Teen Wolf
by OneVictoriousWolf
Summary: Mason was just a boy benched on the Lacrosse field. But one fateful night changes his life forever. Wizards of Waverly Place style of Teen Wolf. Enjoy!
1. Wolf Moon

**_Alex Russo as Allison Argent _**

**_Mason as Scott McCall _**

**_Max Russo as Stiles Stilinski_**

**_Gigi Hollingsworth as Lydia Martin _**

**_Justin Russo as Isaac Lahey _**

**_They will not be related. They will not be wizards. The sport will be Lacrosse. Justin, Max, and Alex will not be related; Max's last name will be Stilinski and Justin's last name will be Lahey. They will all live in Beacon Hills. It seems Max has a crush on Gigi in past episodes so because of that and her attitude, she'd be perfect for Lydia. _**

Mason Greybeck was fixing the laces of his lacrosse stick. The work is fast and precise. Fixing he last loop, Mason gets up and stands with the re-threaded stick. Dressed in only a pair of athletic shorts, his lithe frame may still have some filling out to do, but it's easy to see that he'll soon grow into a strikingly handsome young man with deep brown eyes yet designed to melt the hearts of hopeful young girls.

Scooping a ball up from his bedroom floor, he gives the lacrosse stick a spin, testing his handiwork. A moment later, the re-threaded stick lands next to a school backpack while Mason pumps out a few chin-ups at the bar mounted at the doorway of his closet.

Then, toothbrush in his mouth, he reaches for the window sill to pull it down. But he stops when he hears a sound. He cocks his ear to listen again. Under the whispering wind, he hears movement, a strange shuffling noise.

Mason silently slips into the hallway and peers into another bed room. His mom, Linda Greybeck, late thirties, both remarkably strong and remarkably beautiful, sleeps over the covers of her bed, fully clothed as if she'd just passed out after having walked in. Mason eases her door shut.

The glass door to the porch slides open. Now armed with a baseball bat, Mason starts for the yard. Breath held tight, he moves cautiously off the porch steps. The sound of movement stops him cold.

Holding still, he peers left and right as he white-knuckles the bat, ready to swing. When his eyes wonder up to the side of the house, he sees a dark figure climbing the vine wrapped trellis. Before Mason even knows what's happing, the figure breaks free and comes hurtling towards him. He almost swings the bat before realizing who it is; his best friend since childhood, Max Stilinski.

"Max! What the hell are you doing!?" Mason asked loudly.

"You weren't answering your phone!" Max notices the bat. "Why do you have a bat?"

"I thought you were a predator."

"A pre..." Max scoffed. Feet caught in the trellis, he hangs in front of Mason. A sixteen year-old with boundless energy, he continues talking upside down as if this were a perfectly normal way to have a conversation.

"I know it's late, but you gotta hear this. I saw my dad leave twenty minutes ago. Dispatch called. They're bringing in every officer from the Beacon Hills department and even State police."

Mason asks, "For what?"

"Two joggers found a body in the woods."

"They found a dead body?"

"No, they found a body of water." Max answers sarcastically. "Yes, dumbass, it was a dead body." Reaching up to pull himself free of the trellis, he lands on his feet in front of Mason

"You mean like murdered?"

"Nobody knows yet." Max responded. "They just know that it was a girl, probably in her twenties."

"Hold on...if they found a body, what are they looking for now?"

"That's the best part; they only found half." Max smacks his lips and smirks. "We're going."

Soon, a beat-up jeep skids to a halt just beyond the heavily wooded entrance to the Beacon Hills preserve. Max gets out with a flashlight in hand. Mason follows, hurrying to keep up with him as he charges into the hiking paths.

Mason asks, "Are we seriously doing this?"

"You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town. Besides, it's our last night of summer freedom."

"I was trying to get a good night's sleep for practice tomorrow."

"Right, because sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort."

"No, because I'm playing this year; in fact, I'm going to make starting lineup."

"That's the spirit!" Max exclaims. "Everyone should have a dream...even a pathetically unrealistic one."

"Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?"

"Huh...I didn't even think about that."

Mason asks, "What if whoever killed the girl is still out here?"

"That's also something I didn't think about."

"It's comforting to know you planned this out with your usual attention to detail." Mason commented. Racing up the paths, his breath begins to shorten. "Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight."

Max slows, but not because of Mason. Outside a clearing, yellow police tape marks off a perimeter under floodlights. Grinning, Max looks to Mason who can't help grinning back. Crouching low, they circle the crime scene, looking for the best vantage point. But they freeze at the sound of zipper being pulled up on a body bag. Two bare feet are momentarily visible as the zipper pulls close and officers lift the body up into the Medical Examiner's van.

"Is that the second half of the body?" Mason asked.

"No, they would've called off the search." Max responded. "Come on." He and Mason retreat from the perimeter back into the dark of the woods. As they crest a hill, Mason pauses. Below, flashlight beams scour the shadows, the police search just ahead. Unable to stand still Max races forward.

"Max, wait up." Mason calls out to him, but Max doesn't wait. Quickly running out of air, Mason pulls out his inhaler from his jacket. While he pauses to take a hit from it, Max disappears up ahead. Then, realizing he's left Mason behind, he slows to look back when barking spins him around.

Fanged teeth snap ferociously at him, sending him staggering away and falling right onto his butt. Search dogs yank back against their leashes just before tearing them apart. "Stay right there!" A state trooper calls out.

Mason freezes. It's not him the state trooper was yelling at, however. Peering out from behind a tree, he sees Max has run right into a search party. Flashlight beams in his eyes; the boy puts his hands in the air as large, threatening figures hurry forward.

Deputy Stilinski steps into the light past the growling search dogs. Max shrinks under his glare. "Hold on, hold on, this little delinquent belongs to me." He asks Max, "Son, do you listen in on all of my phone calls?"

"No...Not the boring ones."

"And where's your usual partner in crime?"

"Who, Mason...? Mason's at home. He said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for the first day back at school."

Deputy Stilinski calls out, "Mason, you out there?" Hidden in the shadows, Masom doesn't move. "Alright, young man, I'm taking you back to your car and we're going to discuss a little something we like to call Invasion of Privacy." Deputy was still suspicious.

Watching Max get escorted away, Mason steps out from the cover of the trees with an irritated sigh. Starting back, he tries to find his way out of the woods, but with each step, it becomes increasingly difficult to see in the pitch black.

At a fork in the path, he pauses in confusion. He's about to start off down one direction when he hears a rustling among the trees. Mason holds still. Breath tightening more from fear than asthma, he reaches into his pocket for his inhaler when he hears an odd rumbling. The sound of sudden and furious movement rising in volume velocity until half a dozen deer charge out of the darkness, soaring past him with the thunderous beat of hooves trampling the ground. Startled, Mason drops the inhaler.

Then, once again alone in the dark, he kneels down to the leaf-covered ground to search for the inhaler. Pulling out his cellphone, he lights the display. Guiding the phone's light over the ground, Mason doesn't find his inhaler, but does manage to briefly illuminate a face. Dead eyes peer from the pale, yet beautiful face of a young woman torn in half. Crying out in shock, Mason lurches up, tripping on his own feet and tumbling over the unearthed roots of a tree. Suddenly, he's propelled down a leaf-covered slope, rolling head over heels right into a creek bed.

Pushing himself up from the icy water, a breathless Mason looks up at the embankment down which he just fell. He's about to stand when a low growl stops him moving, and stops his breathing. Something crouches in the shadows right near him. It was something very large. Mason slowly begins to turn around when a shape hurtles toward him. For the briefest instant, there's a flash of razor-sharp teeth. Mason twists forward, crying out. Then, seeming to disentangle himself from the attacking animal, he scrambles back to his feet and into a panicked run.

Whipping through branches tearing at his skin and clothes, he races blindly through the forest until he reaches a barbed wire fence. With barely a second to coordinate his effort, he lurches over the wire, shirt catching and tearing across the barbs. Crashing out of the woods and into the road, Mason whirls around to face an oncoming car. The driver swerves, almost clipping him. Horn blaring, the car hurtles past. Breathless, Mason backs away from the woods. With the world spinning around him, dark blood sticks his tattered shirt to his back over a deep vicious looking bite. Struggling for calm, he whips around when he hears the strangest sound, THE HOWLING OF A WOLF. It echoes through the hills, over the trees, across the rooftops, and into the night.

* * *

A school bell rings in the crowded hallway. At their lockers, Mason takes off his backpack and pulls his shirt up a few inches to show Max the bandage on his lower back. Mason says, "It was too dark to see much, but I'm pretty sure it was a

"...a wolf bit you?" Max asked. "No, not a chance."

"I heard a wolf howling."

"No, you didn't."

"What do you mean 'No, I didn't'? How do you know what I head?"

Max responds, "California doesn't have wolves; not for the last sixty years."

"Really...?"

"Yes, really, there are no wolves in California."

"Well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're not gonna believe me when I tell you I saw the body." Mason confessed and Max's jaw dropped.

"You, what, are you kidding me?"

"I wish." He answered. "I'm going to have nightmares about it for a month."

"That's freaking awesome. This is seriously the best thing that's happened to this town since..." Max looks behind Mason to see a strawberry blonde hair-colored girl walking down the corridor. "...since the birth of Gigi Hollingsworth who's walking towards us right now."

A drop-dead gorgeous junior named Gigi Hollingsworth walks the hallway like it was a fashion show runway in Milan. "Hey, Gigi, how are you? You look..." She walks right past him. "...like you're going to ignore me." Mason lets out a laugh and Max glares at him, saying, "You're the cause of this you know, dragging me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been scarlet-nerded by you."

Blending into the crowd, they head to first period.

* * *

In first period English, Mason takes the desk next to Max as the teacher, Mr. Curtis walks in. "As you all know by now, there was indeed a body found in the woods last night. I'm sure you're eager little minds are coming up with all sorts of macabre scenarios as to how it happened, but I've been told that the police have a suspect in custody." Mr. Curtis speaks, walking down the aisles, handing out papers. Mason looks at Max who shrugs; news to him as well. Mr. Curtis continues, "A vagrant with a long history of psychiatric disorders was discovered camping out in the woods near where the body was found which means your undivided attention can be given to the syllabus outlining the semester on your desks. Read it now; and by read, I don't mean skim."

The sound of paper pages flipping rumbles toward Mason as students start reading. It's strangely loud, causing his ears to twitch especially when a cell phone rings. He glances up. The other students quietly read the syllabus. Mason appears to be the only one noticing the ringing. Gazing about, he can't seem to find the source until his eyes fall on the windows of the classroom. Across the quad, Mason sees Alex Russo, sixteen and radiating with innocent beauty. When she puts a cell phone to her ear, it becomes obvious that, despite the closed window and the distance, this is the ringing Mason is somehow able to hear.

More astonishingly, Mason can hear both Alex and her caller, their voices echoing with a tinny effect. (Alex - Italics, Caller - Bold, Principal - Underlined).

_"Mom, three calls on my first day is a little overdoing it."_

**"I'm just making sure you're there okay and you got everything you need."**

But Alex digs through her bag, becoming alarmed, _"I have everything except a pen. Oh, my god, I didn't actually forget a pen."_

**"Don't panic; I'm sure you can borrow one from another student."**

"Okay, okay, I gotta go. Love ya." Unable to take his eyes off the extraordinary girl, Mason watches as the school's principal joins her on the steps.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The principal guides her across the quad, their conversation becoming clearer to Mason with every step. "So, you were saying San Francisco isn't where you grew up?"

_"No, but we stayed for more than a year which is unusual in my family. We always bounce around a lot because of my dad's work."_ Even when Alex and the principal disappear from view, Mason hears the clatter of the building door opening, the clicking of their heels on the tile floor of the hall.

"Well, hopefully, Beacon Hills is your last stop for a while." The door opens, causing the rest of the of the class to look up. Alex and the principle walk in. "Class, this is our new student, Alex Russo. Please do your best to make her feel welcome."

Mason barely breathes as Alex heads for the one empty desk left in the room; right behind him. She puts her notebook down, and then glances up to see Mason turned toward her, holding out a pen. With a relieved but curious smile, she takes it from him. "Thanks." He gives her a nod. Turning around, his gaze focuses on Max's desk where his friend's sunglasses sit. In the mirrored lenses, Mason can see Alex reflected behind him and he can't take his eyes off her.

"Okay, let's begin with Kafka..."

* * *

Silence, then the doors of the cafeteria push open. As Mason steps in, the cacophony of high school lunch period slams into him and every sound assaults him with pin-drop clarity. "Are you alright?" Max asks Mason, who is just standing there. Overwhelmed, Mason doesn't even hear him. His hands come up to his ears to cover when he sees Alex in the room, paying for her food.

The cashier breaks a roll of quarters, but the coins spill to the floor. Mason hears each one plink against the tile. Alex immediately kneels to help the embarrassed cashier, giving a good-hearted smile to the grateful woman while the other students just stand by and wait impatiently. Then Alex notices Mason and they connect eyes. Somehow, just this look from her seems to return from his hearing to normal. She starts to smile back, recognizing him. But Gigi Hollingsworth swoops in front of her. (Alex - Italic, Gigi - Bold, Jackson - Underlined).

**"That jacket is absolutely killer."** Gigi compliments.** "Where did you get it?"**

_"My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco."_

**"You're sitting with me."** Taking Alex by the arm, she guides her to the popular table. Jackson Whitmore, Gigi's boyfriend, pulls her toward his lap, but she brushes him off, still talking to Alex. A few tables away, Mason sits with Max and their friend Rebecca Harlow, better known as Harley.

Harley asks, "Can somebody tell me how the new girl is here all of five minutes and she's already at Gigi's table?"

"That's because she's hot. Beautiful people herd together." Max says.

"Is that why Gigi's not herding with you?"

"Gigi is a long-term project okay? And trust me; I've got all the patience in the world for a high yield investment like her."

"Well, I don't think the New Girl's that pretty. Mason, do you think she's pretty?" She asks. He doesn't even blink, attention consumed by Alex. "Mason?"

"I'd take that as a yes." Max remarks. Head cocked slightly, Mason tunes in the conversation across the room, voices coming into focus. (Alex - Italics, Jackson - Underlined, Gigi - bold)

_"A party...?"_

"It's Friday Night. We could go together."

_"I can't. It's Family Night this Friday, but thanks for asking."_

"Are you sure? Everyone's going after the scrimmage game."

_"You mean like football?"_

"Football is a joke at Beacon Hills High. The sport here is Lacrosse. We won the state championship the last three years..."

**"...Because of a certain captain."**

"Every season starts with a scrimmage to decide the new first string. Do you ever watch Lacrosse?" Max notices Mason watching Gigi's table intently; not merely staring, but seeming to listen. "Maybe you should just come see for yourself. We have practice today. You don't have to be anywhere after school, do you?"

_"Well, no..."_

**"Perfect. You're coming."** Gigi interrupts her.

* * *

A whistle blows and the Lacrosse team's Assistant Coach gathers the team on the field, Max and Mason are lagging alone. Max asks, "Just think about this. If you play I'll have no one to talk to on the bench. You're really going to do that to your best friend?"

"I can't sit out again. My whole life is sitting on the sidelines. This season, I make my first string."

Heading for the field, he pauses to notice Gigi climbing the bleachers, and stepping right behind her is Alex. "Greybeck, you're on goal!" The coach shouts towards Mason. He trots over to the coach, a man with little comprehension of the difficulties of teenage life.

"But I never played goal."

"I know, but scoring some shots will give the boys a confidence boost. It's a first day back thing. Get them energized, jazzed out."

Mason asks, "What about me?"

"Try not to take any in the face." Stepping into the next, Mason glances to the bleachers where Alex watches with Gigi, eyes focusing on them.

"Him...? I'm not sure who is. Why?" Mason overhears Gigi ask.

"He's in my English class." Alex responds. Mason looks up, shocked to hear Alex asking about him, but with his hearing momentarily turned up; he flinches at the whistle blow, sound ringing through his skull. One of the bigger player's charges forward as the Assistant Coach passes the ball to him. Catching it, he whips the stick forward, hurling the ball toward the goal. Still reeling from the whistle, Mason looks up too late to see the ball soaring toward him. It bounces right off the helmet and into the net. The team laughs wickedly, even the coach snickers.

With cheeks burning under his mask, Mason steals himself for the next player. When the whistle blows again, he's ready. The assistant Coach passes the ball to the player who catches it and fires it right at the goal. Mason moves startlingly fast, almost an instantaneous reaction. Then he notices the player staring at him with a mixture of disappointment and surprise. Mason has the ball. He caught it. When the next player takes the shot, Mason catches the ball again, and then again, and again. Nothing can get past him. In the bleachers Alex and Gigi sit forward.

"He seems like he's pretty good." Alex compliments.

"Very good..." Gigi adds. Intrigued Gigi keeps her gaze locked on Mason who now stands with a far more confident posture until Jackson pushes to the head of the line. Glaring at Mason, he practically strangles the lacrosse stick with his gloves. The Assistant Coach tosses the ball up. Jackson launches forward, catching the ball and spinning around to fire it at the goal. But Mason moves with supernatural precision. The ball lands right in the pocket of the goalie's stick.

Max lets out a holler, jumping on the bench. In the bleachers, Gigi stands and gives a whoop as well causing Jackson to throw a look at her. She returns his glare with a sly smile, a warning to step up his game. Grinning, Mason gives the goalie stick a whirl, spinning it with a flick of his wrist and sending the ball soaring right into the pocket of the stunned Assistant Coach's stick.

* * *

Mason retraces his steps from last night in the woods with Max following behind him. Mason explains the experience at school and lacrosse practice, "I don't know what it was. I mean I felt like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball. And that's not the only weird thing; I mean, I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear and I can smell things."

"You can smell things like what?" Max asked.

"Things like the mint mojito gum in your pocket."

"I don't have any." Max pulls out a lint-covered piece of wrapped gum.

"So, all this started with the bite?" Max asked.

"What if it's an infection? What if my body is flooding with adrenaline before I fall into shock? I knew I should've gone to the E.R."

"I've actually hear of this." Max responded. "It's a specific kind of infection."

"Are you serious?"

"All symptoms add up. I think it's called Lycanthropy."

"What's that? Is that bad?" Mason asked. "It sounds bad."

"It is, but only once a month."

"It happens only once a month?"

"Yeah, on the night of the full moon."

"You're an ass." Mason slaps him on the arm, getting what he meant. Max chuckles and catches his balance.

"Hey, you're the one who heard a wolf howling." Max defends himself.

"There could be something seriously wrong with me." Mason states.

"I know! You're a werewolf! Okay, obviously, I'm kidding, but if you see me in shop class melting down all the silver I can find, it's because Friday's a full moon."

Mason glances around. "I swear this was it. The body was here. The deer came running, I dropped my inhaler..." He trails off.

Max suggested, "Maybe the killer moved the body."

"If he did, I hope he left my inhaler. Those things are like eighty bucks."

Max taps him on the arm, bringing his attention to a figure standing just a few yards away. Dean Moriarity; nineteen and unquestionably handsome, has a rougher look than the cleanly shaven Beacon Hills boys.

Dean asks, "What are you doing here?" Both Mason and Max are too stunned to speak at first. Dean continues. "This is private property."

Max responds, "Sorry, we didn't know."

"We were just looking for something. Forget it. Sorry to bother you." Mason apologizes. As they're turning to go, Dean tosses an object to Mason which was his inhaler. When he looks up, Dean is already walking away. Mason turns to Max and says, "Come on I have to work."

"Dude, that was Dean Moriarity." Max stops him from walking away. "You remember, right? He's only a few years older than us."

"What?" Mason asks his friend who is suddenly interested about the guy they seen just seconds ago.

"His family; they all burned to death in a fire like six years ago. I remember the cops pulling him out to tell him."

"I wonder what he's doing back." Mason eyes the inhaler in his hand, closing his fist in it.

* * *

Inside the town's lone veterinary clinic, Mason flips the sign on the door to CLOSED and then grabs a few packages off the reception desk. The door to a storage room opens into the corridor. Mason backs out, hauling a huge bag of kitty litter. Setting it against the wall, he takes out a set of keys and unlocks the next door. But just before pulling it open, he pauses, hand gripping the doorknob as he listens to the utterly silent clinic. And then he hears it, rain, the pattering of drops on the roof.

He twists the knob and opens the door. He barely has a foot inside the room when the cages filled with cats come alive with activity. The frightened felines suddenly bare their teeth, hissing and clawing frenetically at the cage doors. All of them focused on Mason, their backs arched, struck with absolute terror. Stunned, he staggers out of the room, slamming the door shut.

Retreating into the waiting room, Mason can still hear the pandemonium coming from the inside when a hammering spins him around. Standing outside and banging on the glass door with her fist is Alex. Rain-soaked, it's nevertheless easy to see that she's crying and in a visible panic. Quickly unlocking the door, Mason lets her in as she tries to explain through tears what happened.

"I didn't see it." Alex suddenly says. "I took my two seconds to switch songs on my iPod and this dog...it came out of nowhere..."

"Okay, it's all right. Do you remember where it happened so I can sendout animal control to find it?" Mason asked.

"No. I mean, yes. I know where I hit it. But the dog..."

"Right, where is it?"

"It's in my car." Following Alex to her car under the now drizzling rain, Mason opens the back seat door to reveal an injured stray. Hackles raised, the frightened lab mix is clearly in pain. Alex reaches in to pick him up, but the dog snaps at her. She flinches back, stepping right into Mason's arms.

"You okay?" He asks her. She nods, looking up at Mason behind her, his hands on her forearms, fingers lightly touching her soft skin. He assures her, "He's just frightened."

"That makes two of us." Alex remarks.

"Let me see if I have better luck." Once he lets her go, he steps toward the open door oddly calm.

"Careful." She warns. As he connects eye with the dog, something happens. A sound drops out around him all except for the dog's nervous panting. Then its harsh gasps begin to ease as some sort of primal communication occurs between them. For the briefest moment, his eyes take on a strangely yellow tint, like that of a wolf. In response, the dog lowers its body submissively, yielding to the obviously dominant animal. With Alex watching in amazement, Mason gathers the dog into his arms and carries him into the vet's office. Inside, Mason gently lays the injured animal down on the examining table. Alex stays back, watching him inspect the dog while petting it, doing an expert job of calming it.

"I think his leg is broken; I can splint it now. I can give him a painkiller and then let the doctor take a look in the morning." He says. Alex steals glances at him, looking on with admiration as she works. But Mason doesn't notice, terrified to glance at the beautiful girl. When he finally does look up, he sees she's hugging herself, soaked and obviously freezing.  
"I have a T-shirt in my bag." He offers.

"Oh, I don't want to trouble you." She says, but Mason is already reaching into his bag for the shirt. She takes it with a small smile. When she steps in the hall for privacy, Mason can't help but notice her reflection in a wall mirror. As she's pulling the wet shirt off, he catches sight of her bare back. Looking away, Mason notices the dog staring up him.

"What? I didn't see anything." He says. The dog doesn't look convinced. Alex comes back, now wearing his shirt and no longer shivering.

"Thanks for doing this. I feel really stupid."

"How come...?" Mason asked.

"I don't know; for freaking out like a total girl."

Mason states, "You are a girl."

"I freaked out like a girly girl. I'm not a girly girl."

"What kind of girl are you?" He asked.

"I'm tougher than that...at least I thought I was."

"I'd be freaked out too. In fact, I'd probably cry." Mason teased. "And not like a man. I'd cry like the girliest girl cry. It would be pathetic." She laughs.

"Yeah, whatever."

Mason finishes wrapping the dog's leg. "So it looks like he's going to live, and I'm pretty sure he'll even let you pet him if you want." He says.

"I don't think so."

"Come on. You don't want him to sue. This breed is very litigious." Alex approaches and tentatively reaches out to stroke the dog's neck. Calm now, the dog even licks her hand.

"See? He likes you." He watches Alex, unable to take his eyes off of her. She notices his stare.

"What?"

"Sorry. You have an eyelash on your cheek."

"Oh, it's from the crying." She wipes at her cheek, but the lash is still there. He shakes his head. She tries again; still there. So Mason reaches with his thumb to brush the lash.

"Thanks." He nods, hand coming down like he's quite not sure what do do with it. After their moment, he walks her back to her car when he suddenly as a question when she opens the car door.

"Um...I was wondering...I mean...is it really Family Night on Friday or do you think maybe you'd like to go to that party with me?" She throws him a curious look. How did he know about that?

"Family Night was a total lie." She admits.

"So, is that a yes, you'll go?"

"Definitely yes..."

* * *

Tearing down the road on his bike, a huge smile nearly splits Mason's face in half. He's ecstatic, jubilant, but not for long. He slows. Smile fading, something has caught his attention. He eases to a stop on the rain-slick road and holds still. Turning his head up, he takes a quick whiff of the air. Slowly, he turns around to find dark surrounding him on all sides. The road is completely empty and strangely quiet. Then sound of movement catches his ear. He turns, peering into the forest; nothing. He starts pedaling again, glancing to each side of him as he picks up speed.

Then he notices a shadow moving through the woods, keeping pace with him. When he starts pedaling faster, that strange loping silhouette moves just as fast.

Pedaling harder and harder, Mason pushes the bike to its limits, steel chain threatening to come off. The shadow slows, letting him get ahead. Not at all relieved, Mason keeps going, looking back to see something large and fast crossing the road just a few yards behind him, diving into the dark of the woods. Now on the other side of the and driving Mason's panic higher and higher, it keeps pace with him once again until it disappears.

A breathless Mason gives a last glance back to the woods on both sides, then forward where a truck veers out in front of him, an eighteen wheeler coming from a side of the road. Mason hits the breaks, the truck looming before him. Bike crashing against the hood of the cab, it flips and smacks him on the road, metal scraping pavement as it clatters to a stop.

The truck driver jumps out, glancing around in panic, but there's nobody on the ground. He finally peers up where Mason stands on top of the car.

"What the hell?" The driver is shocked. Breathless, Mason is too stunned to even answer.

* * *

Amid the players rushing the field, a very late Max finds Mason in the crowd and hurries toward him. "Mason, wait up!" He calls him. "You gotta hear this."

"I'm playing the first elimination, Max." Mason responds. "Can't it wait?"

"Just hold on. I over heard my dad on the phone. The fiber analysis report came back from Beacon Hills and they found animal hairs on the body from the woods."

"Max, I have to go."

"You're not going to believe what the animal was." But with his helment off, Mason disappears in the crowd of other players rushing the field, leaving Max to say the next words to himself, "It was a wolf."

Out on the field, the coach shouts for the players, "Alright, gather around..." Mason glances back to the bleachers where students and parents sit to watch the special scrimmage. He spots Alex next to Gigi. She gives him a quick wave and a smile. He holds up a hand to wave back. "You got a question, Greybeck?" The coach asks. Mason looks in his direction.

"What?"

"You raised your hand."

"Oh, no I was just...nothing. Sorry."

The coach starts talking to the rest of the team, "Alright, you know how this goes. If you don't make the cut, you're most likely warming the bench the rest of the season. But make first string and you play, your parents are proud, your girlfriend loves you, everything else is cream cheese. Now show me what you got."

The whistle blows and the game begins. The pace is fast and brutal. When the ball gets passed to Mason, Jackson comes right after him. Lacrosse sticks smacking down on his gloves, Mason tumbles forward and slams to the ground, kicking dirt up around him. The whistle stops the play. Jackson stands over Mason, glowering down at him as he picks the ball up with a gloved hand. Teeth clenched behind his mask, Mason pushes himself off the ground.

Coach gives the whistle a sharp blow, starting the next play. Mason and Jackson find themselves staring across from each other at the draw, crouched down with their sticks, waiting for the Assistant Coach to drop the ball.

At the whistle, Mason moves with shocking speed, grabbing the ball right out from under Jackson. At the benches, Max stands, slowly moving to the sidelines to watch. Mason charges the length of the field. Defense lashes out with their sticks, but he parries expertly.

Jackson catches up and makes a furious stab at stealing the ball. Then with defense converging on him, Mason twists his lacrosse stick around, keeping the ball safely in the pocket while he literally flips forward, leaning right over the heads of the defensive players. Feet landing on the turf, he whirls around, tossing the ball in an over the shoulder shot past the goalie and right into the net.

The crowd in the bleachers roar with cheering, Alex on her feet along with everyone else except Max.

"Greybeck, get over here!" Coach shouts. He trots over to the Coach, all eyes on him. "What was that? This is a lacrosse field. Are you trying out for the gymnastics team?"

"No, Coach."

"Then what the hell was that?"

"I don't know." Mason answered. "I was just trying to make the shot.

"Well, you made the shot, and guess what? You just made lineup." Cheers erupt around him. As team members slap him on the back and knock his helmet with their gloves, a deliriously happy Mason doesn't even notice Jackson's furious stare or Max watching with a very worry look.

* * *

Fingers click furiously over a keyboard. Eyes locked onto his computer screen, Max, bounces from one webpage to the next. Words and images pop up on the screen, flashing across his face: Wolfsbane, Silver Bullets, Lycan, Aconite, drawings of werewolves in different forms, one mostly human, another massive fur-covered creature and yet another appearing as a normal wolf. Image after image, page after page while the sun is setting on Beacon Hills and a full moon begins to rise.

As his room darkens, an increasingly panicked Max watches a sheet of paper come out of his printer - a detailed wood carving of a medieval hunter standing over the body of a werewolf, aiming a crossbow at the creature. He pulls the page out, staring at it with a look of escalating fear when someone knocks on the door. Max practically leaps out of his chair. Rushing to the door, he unlocks it and opens to see Mason standing in the doorway.

"Get in." He pushes Mason in. "You have to see this. I've been reading websites, books and all this information." He says, sitting across from Mason, who had took a seat on the foot of the bed. As Mason takes off his jacket, Max starts grabbing printouts from his desk, pulling his computer screen around, and dozens of open webpages on it.

"How much Adderall have you had?" Mason asked, concerned for the seemingly hyper Max.

"I've had a lot. That doesn't matter. Just listen to this."

"Is this about the body?" Mason asked. "Did they find who did it?"

"No, they're still questioning people, even Dean Moriarity, the guy from the woods

"Yeah, but that's not it."

"What then?"

"Remember the joke the other day? It's not a joke anymore. The wolf, the bite in the woods; I started doing all this reading and...Do you even know why a wolf howls?"

"Should I?"

"It's a signal. When a wolf is alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack. So if you heard it howling, it means there are others, maybe a pack of them.

"Wait, a pack of wolves?"

"No, I mean a pack of werewolves."

"You're seriously wasting my time on this?" Mason asked. "You know, I'm picking Alex up in an hour."

"No. You made an incredible shot. The way you moved, the speed, your reflexes, people can't suddenly do that overnight and then there's the hearing, the senses, and don't think I haven't noticed you don't need your inhaler anymore. You haven't used it since that night." Max states.

"I can't think about this now. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

"Tomorrow, don't you get it? The full moon is tonight."

"What are you tring to do? I just made staring lineup. I have a date with a girl I can't belive actually wants to go out with me. Everything is somehow perfect in my life. Why are you trying to ruin it for me?"

"I'm trying to help. With the full moon, it's going to be too hard to resist and there's no going back. You're cursed, Mason, and it's not only that the moon causes you to change, it's also when your bloodlust will be at its peak."

"Bloodlust...?"

"It's your urge to kill."

"I'm already starting to have an urge to kill, Max."

"You need to hear this. This change can be caused by your anger or anything that raises your pulse. And I've never seen anyone raise your pulse like Allison does. You have to cancel your date. You have to call her." Max grabs Mason's jacket, pulling the cell phone out.

"What are you doing? Give me that!" Mason demands.

"I'm just finding her number."

"Give it to me." He demands, his voice low and guttural this time. Max looks up to see Mason's flash yellow for a brief second. Mason yanks the phone out of Max's hand and shoves him against the wall. Pulling back before striking him, Mason instead lashes out at the desk chair, sending it flying across the room, tossed like it weight nothing. Then, shaking with anger, he gazes up. "I didn't mean to do that." Mason apologizes.

He starts to help Max up, but Max flinches back. "I'm sorry. Really, I didn't mean it. I have to go. I have to get ready for the party. I'm sorry." He apologizes again before grabbing his jacket and hurrying out.

Still shaken, Max gradually stands. He slowly picks up the desk chair, putting it back. But then he pauses. With a shaky hand, he turns the chair around to reveal claw marks, the chair's fabric slashed to ribbons.

* * *

Towel around his waist, Mason yanks his closet door open and starts tossing clothes onto his bed. "Do you have a big date?" His mom, Linda Greybeck, stands at the door.

Mason turns around, "Mom, can I have a little privacy, please?"

"Hold on, what do we have here?" She approaches, feeling his chin with her thumb. "I think it might be time for you to start shaving."

Outside the house, Mason and his mom can be heard talking. "I don't even have a razor." Then further down the street, their voices take on the same effect as those that Mason could hear when he was listening in on conversations at school.

"You better borrow one of mine. I'll go get it. Stay right there." No less than a hundred yards away, but still within the line of sight of the house, someone stands beside a black Dodge Challenger, listening in on the conversation, Dean Moriarity.

* * *

In the backyard of a dimly lit house, Mason and Alex stand awkwardly among a crowd of drunk and high teenagers. Mason peers down at the table with the booze.

"So, what do you drink?" Mason asks, breaking the awkward silence between them.

"Um...I don't know..."

"Me either, actually. Maybe we should try root beer? Wait here. I'll get the keg." He walks away after getting a simple "Perfect" from Alex.

Near a blazing fire, Mason fills two cups at the crowded keg when a sound of a dog barking catches his attention. A huge Rottweiler in the yard next door just beyond a chain linked fence, barking at Dean. He stands behind the fire pit, staring straight at Mason. But then he shoots a look at Rottweiler. The dog stops barking instantly. Eyes locking on the animal, Dean gives an almost imperceptible no. Tail between its legs, the Rottweiler submissively lowers to a sitting position.

Satisfied, Dean turns back to Mason who grips the two overflowing cups in his hands and for the briefest second, Dean's eyes flash yellow

"Dude, are you done?" A party goer asks. Stunned, Mason hands off the keg tap to the party-goer. When he looks back to the fire-pit, Dean is gone. Mason turns, glancing to the other teens in the yard, to the chain link fence, and then up to the roof where a shadowy figure seems to disappear just past the chimney. Mason steps back, trying to see if he actually did just witness Dean leaping twenty feet off the ground. But there's nothing there. Handing a cup to Alex, he keeps throwing nervous glances back at the outside porch of the house. He takes a gulp of the beer and then coughs, nearly spitting it out.

"This punch tastes terrible." Mason comments. Alex laughs, covering her mouth with her hand. "Now I see what they mean about an acquired taste.

Alex replies, "I've actually never been drunk. I usually go to parties and just stand there with a diet coke.""

"Max and I got drunk on tequila one night. The next morning I felt like I had a flamethrower pointed at my forehead."

"Okay, since neither of us are any good at drinking, how are you at dancing?" Alex asked.

"I'm much better...infinitely better..."

Under the driving pulse of techno, Mason takes her hand, pulling her into the crowd of dancing teenagers. Then as they begin moving, as Alex starts to smile back at him, the usually timid Mason begins to let go. His hands reach around her waist with the other teens pushing them closer. Bodies pressed against each other, her cheek brushes lightly at his.

Then through the crowd, Mason notices Gigi dancing with Jackson, grinding close to him, her fingers wrapped around the back of his neck. She presses her lips to Trent's locking him in a passionate kiss. As he eagerly kisses her back, sliding his hands down past her waist, Gigi opens her eyes and looks right at Mason. She's staring at him as she kisses Jackson. Unused to the attention of one beautiful girl, much less two, Mason finds himself dumbstruck until the bodies of the dancing teens push together to leave him alone with Alex again.

As Mason peers into Alex's eyes, for a second it almost looks as though they're about to kiss, then the thumping beat of the music begins driving faster, starting to sound almost like the quickening of a heartbeat...Mason's heartbeat. The sounds around him intensify, his fingers clench back, veins at the surface of his hands as he presses against the fabric of Alex's shirt. His upper lip pulls up momentarily to reveal a sharpened incisor.

Lights glaring in his eyes, Mason takes a hard swallow as his breathing tightens, sweat beading his temples. He loses the beat of the music, stepping back and pulling away. Mason excuses himself, "Sorry, I have to go...go to the bathroom."

"Are you okay?" She asks. But he hurries past her and into the hallway. Teeth clenched, a sudden wave of pain slams him against the wall, tremors shuddering through his body. Waiting in a line for the bathroom, Harley notices him against the wall, his arms wrappedaround his stomach.

"Mason, are you alright?" Harley asks, but he doesn't answer, pushing through the crowd, trying to find an exit out of the house. But one door leads to two teens making out on a bed. Another to a smoke filled room crowded with stoners. He can't seem to find a way out.

Gasps sounding more like animalistic growls, he crashes through the kitchen, shoving past people to the open door and out to the backyard.

Harley notices Max near the fire-pit outside. "Hey, I just saw Mason leave. I think he had too much to drink." Harley informs him.

"What? What do you mean?" Max asked, obviously alarmed.

Before she can answer, a panicked party goer charges in from the back door. "The cops are here!" Suddenly, everyone is moving, darting for an escape.

* * *

Mason stumbles into his room, slamming the door shut. But even he's turning the lock, another wave of pain wracks his body. He falls back, hitting his dresser and catching his reflection in the mirror where two glowing eyes stare back at him.

Crouched on the floor, breathing hard with sweat streaming down his forehead, Mason squeezes his eyes shut, trying to push back the animal inside when someone pounds on the door.

"Go away!" He shouts.

"Mason, it's me." Max calls out from the other side. Hearing the panic in his friends voice, he pulls himself up. He unlocks the door, but only allows it to open an inch. "Let me in." Max demands. "Mason, I can help."

"No!" Eyes still burning yellow, Mason stays hidden behind the door. "Listen, you have to find Alex. Take her home..." He stops speaking when Max interrupts.

"She's fine. I saw her get a ride. She's totally fine."

"Max, I think I know who it is."

Max demands, "Just let me in and we can talk."

"It's Dean. Dean Moriarity is the werewolf. He's the one who bit me. He's the one who killed the girl in the woods!" Mason exclaimed.

Mason listens, but there's nothing but shocked silence from the other side of the door until, "Mason...Dean's the one who drove Alex from the party."

Bedroom window thrown open, Mason launches himself out from the second story fifteen feet up. When his feet hit the pavement, his crouched figure slowly draws up to reveal he's no longer struggling against the transformation; he's given into it.

He takes off for the woods, searching for Alex. He reaches the Beacon Hills preserve and jumps on Dean's car. He lies flat of the car's hood, looking in the car window for Alex. Neither she nor Dean are anywhere in sight. He jumps off and goes further into the woods.

Max pulls into the Russo's driveway and quickly gets out. He rushes to the door and rings the door bell. "Come, on, come on!" He mutters. He bangs on the door waiting for it to open. Soon, he is watching as Mrs. Russo opens the door. "Hi, Mrs. Russo, you have no idea who I am. I'm a friend of your daughter's. Uh, look, this is gonna sound crazy, um...really crazy actually. You know what? Crazy doesn't..." Mac mumbles on and on. Mrs. Russo keeps looking at him as if he was strange.

"Alex." She turns to the stairs. "It's for you!"

Alex comes out of her room and when she spots Max, she slams her hands softly against the rail of the stairs. "Max."

* * *

Mason is running past trees in werewolf form. He jumps hills and runs on all fours like a werewolf would do. He looks all around, but nobody or nothing is in sight until he sees a black blazer jacket hanging on a tree branch and gets a flashback from when he was picking Alex up; it was Alex's jacket.

"Where is she?!" Mason asks. Suddenly, a deep voice answers to him.

"She's safe...from you."

He looks in the direction his voice came from and Dean is right in front of him. Grunting, Mason grabs him. They roll down the hills, wrestling each other. Dean slams Mason against a tree and growls.

"What did you do with her?" Mason asked, concerned if Alex was safe or hurt, or still alive, or even dead.

"Shush, quiet." He warns as soon as he hears a twig crunch. "It's too late. They're already here. Run." He runs away from him. Mason starts running, but an arrow comes charging to him and nails his arm to the tree.

He screams, trying to get it out as he sees three hunters come out from the shadows. They are looking at him and the middle on is pointing a crossbow at him. Mason glares as the one hunter in the center takes a couple steps toward him. "Take him." He orders.

Dean comes out of the shadows aiming for the hunters. Out of nowhere, Dean pulls two of the hunters back against trees and they don't get up. The last hunter standing looks back. Dean rushes to Mason and breaks him free from the tree as the hunter faces the other direction, holding out a gun. Mason screams in pain and follows Dean.

They run to a random tree far away from the hunters and Mason leans on it, asking, "Who were they?"

"Those were hunters; the kind that has been hunting us for centuries."

Mason raises his voice when he responds, "Us...? You mean you! You did this to me!"

"Is it really so bad, Mason?" He asks. "That you can see better, hear more clearly, move faster than any human could ever hope? You've been given something that some people could kill for. The bite is a gift."

"I don't want it." Mason declares.

"You will. And you're gonna need me if you want to learn how to control it. So you and I, Mason...we're brother's now." Dean walks away, leaving Mason alone.

* * *

Mason is walking on the outline of the road near the forest when Max pulls up beside him. Getting in, Max hands him a clean shirt. "Do you know what actually worries me most?" Mason asked a few seconds later.

"If you say Alex, I'm gonna punch you in the head." Max comments. Mason was stunned by his answer, but he thought he was teasing. In case he wasn't, he didn't say her name.

"She probably hates me now."

"Ugh." Max groans. "I doubt that, but you might want to come up with a pretty amazing apology. Or, you know you could just tell her the truth and reveal in the awesomeness of the fact that you're a freaking werewolf." Max suggested and Mason looked at him like he was crazy.

"Okay, that's a bad idea."

"Hey, we'll get through this. Come on, if I have to, I'll chain you up myself on full moon nights. I had a boa once. I could do it." Max tried to convince him. Mason scoffed and Max looked at him with a half-smile.

* * *

At the end of school, Mason sits outside in his Lacrosse gear when Alex walks passed him. She notices him jump up and follow her. "So, what happened? You left me stranded at the party."

"Yeah, I know, I know. I'm really sorry, I am." Mason apologized. "But you're gonna have to trust that I had a really good reason." He continued. Alex stopped walking and turned to face him.

"Did you get sick?" She asked.

"I definitely had an attack of something."

She's unconvinced. "Am I gonna get an explanation?"

"Can you just find it in your heart to just trust me on this one?"

"Am I gonna regret this?" She asked.

"You probably are." He answers. Alex laughs. "So, is that a yes on a second chance?"

"Yes." Alex responded. A car horn goes off and Alex looks to see her dad. "That's my dad. I better go." Alex walked off. Mason turns around to walk away, but turns back around to discover that Alex's dad was the one who shot him in the arm with an arrow the couple nights ago.


	2. Second Chance at First Line

Chapter 2 - Second Chance at First Line

Mason walked to his locker in the boys locker room, thinking. He leans against it with his back when Max walks past him, catching a glance at him. It is clear Mason is still shocked about Alex's dad being a werewolf hunter. Max looks back, leaning against the edge of the last locker.

"Did you apologize to Alex?" Max asked, showing concern for Mason's love life."

"Yeah..."

"Is she giving you a second chance or...?"

"Yeah..."

"Yeah, so everything's good!" Max exclaimed. Max starts to walk off, but he comes back after hearing a faint 'no' from Mason. Max's comforting smile turns into a slight frown. "No?"

"Remember the hunters?" Mason asked. "Her dad is one of them."

"Her dad...?"

"...shot me with..." Mason speaks slowly.

"Alex's father...?"

"...with a crossbow."

"Alex's father..."

"Yes, her father!" Mason yelled. He starts to have bad scenarios. Max runs over and slaps him.

"No, Mason. Snap back! You okay? Hey, alright. He didn't recognize you, right?" Max asked.

"No. No, I don't think so."

Max questions, "Does she know about him?"

"I don't know. W-what if she does? This is gonna kill me man!" A whistle blows and Max looks in that direction.

"Okay, just focus on lacrosse. Okay, here, Mason. Take this and focus on lacrosse from now, okay?" Max hands him the lacrosse stick. "That's all you gotta do. Here. We. Go." Max hits him repeatedly on the arm before leaving to go get himself ready.

_**[Lacrosse Practice]**_

"Let's go! One-on-one from up top! Jackson, take a long stick today." The coach shouts. "Atta boy...!" Jackson nods and grabs a long stick after putting the short stick down. Coach blows his whistle as Jackson faces another player.

Jackson knocks him down, stopping him from the ball into the net. "That's how you do it, Jack! That's how you do it! Greenberg, take a lap! Let's go. Faster, Greenberg let's go."

When he got to Mason, he starts talking to him. "Greybeck, what are they waiting for? Let's go."

Mason snaps out of his thoughts and realizes he was next. He starts running across the field, but Jackson pushes him down. The coach comes over, laughing.

"Hey, Greybeck...! You sure you still want to be first line, Greybeck? My grandmother can move faster than that and she's _dead_. Do you think you can move faster than the lifeless corpse of my dead grandmother?"

"Yes, Coach." Mason whispers, pulse rising under the mask.

"I can't hear you."

"Yes, Coach." Mason raises his voice a little louder.

"Then do it again." Standing up, Mason runs to the line and faces Jackson once again. He starts running to the goal just as Jackson gets right in front of him. As Mason gets faster, Jackson blocks him. He pushes Jackson down and he (Jackson) plummets on the ground, grasping his shoulder. The team runs to Trent to make sure he's okay. They don't pay attention Mason, whose crouching down on his knees a few feet away. Max runs over to Mason.

"Mason, Mason, are you okay?" He asks.

"I can't control it, Max. It's happening." Mason admitted, struggling to keep the wolf inside him in.

"What, here, now? Come on." Max rushed Mason off the field and led to the locker room, unaware of Dean there standing by the bleachers.

Max finally gets Mason into the locker room in time when he starts to transform. "Get away from me!" Mason suddenly shouts, causing Max to stagger away quickly.

Being chased around the room, Max tries to escape. He bumps into the fire extinguisher and quickly grabs it before spraying it in his face. He hides around the corner until he hears a faint "Max" from Mason.

"What happened?" Mason asked as Max came back into the room.

"You tried to kill me." He puts the fire extinguisher up and sits down next to Mason. "Like I told you before, it's the anger. It's your pulse rising. It's a trigger."

"But it's lacrosse; it's a pretty violent game if you haven't noticed." Mason points out.

"Well, it's gonna be a lot more violent if you end up killing someone on the field. You can't play Saturday; you're gonna have to get out of the game."

"But, I'm first line."

"Not anymore."

_**[Mason's Room]**_

After lacrosse practice, Mason goes home and walks up to his room. He plops down on the bed all tired out. His mom comes into the room. "Hey." She says, getting his attention. "Late shift again for me, but I'm taking Saturday off to see your first game."

"No, mom you can't." He responds as she walks to his bed.

"Oh, I can and I will. Come on, one shift isn't gonna break us completely." Linda then notices the dark circles under Mason's eyes. "What's wrong with your eyes?" Mason quickly sits up, panicked that his eyes were yellow. "It seems like you haven't been sleeping for days."

"Oh, uh it's nothing." Mason responds. "I'm just stressed."

"Just stress, nothing else?" Linda asked.

"Homework..."

"I mean, it's not like you're taking drugs or anything, right?"

"Right now...?" Mason raises his eyebrows.

"Right now...? I'm sorry, what do you mean 'right now'? Have you ever taken drugs?"

He asks, "Have you?" She just turns around then walks out after saying 'get some sleep'. He just sighs and lays his head down. His laptop starts to beep. It's Max requesting video chat. He walks to his computer and answers it. Max appears, pointing a nerf gun at Mason's screen.

"What did you find out?" Mason asks, sitting down at the desk.

"Well, it's bad." Max answered. "Jackson's got a separated shoulder."

"Because of me...?"

"No, because he's a tool..."

"Well, is he gonna play?"

Max answers, "Well, they don't know yet. Now, they're just counting on you for Saturday."

Mason just closes his eyes and sighs as someone appears behind him. Max sees this and types something. _It looks like..._it takes a while for the rest to come up. _Someone's behind you._ Mason turns around before being smashed against the wall by Derek.

Derek starts, "I saw you on the field."

"What are you talking about?" Mason asked.

"You shifted in front of them. If they find out what you are, they find out about me, about all of us. And if it's not just the hunters, it's everyone."

It gets harder for Mason to speak considering his face is smashed against the wall, "They didn't see anything, I swear!"

"And they won't! Because if you even try to play in that game on Saturday, I'm gonna kill you myself." Derek threatens just before disappearing through the window.

_**[Coach's Office]**_

The next day at school, Mason is talking to Coach Finstock about tomorrow night's game. "What do you mean; you can't play the game tomorrow night?" Finstock asked.

"I mean I can't play the game tomorrow night."

"You can't _wait_ to play the game tomorrow night." Coach adds unsaid words to it.

"No, Coach, I can't play the game tomorrow night."

"I'm not following."

"I'm having personal issues."

Finstock asks, "Is it a girl?"

"No."

"Is it a guy? You know, our goalie Danny is gay."

"Yeah, I know, Coach, but that's not it."

Finstock asks, "You don't think Danny's a good looking guy?"

"I think he's good looking, but I like girls." Mason gets frustrated. "And that's not it, anyway!"

"What, is it drugs? Are you doing meth? I had a brother that was addicted to meth. You should've seen what it did to his teeth. They were all cracked and rotten. It was disgusting."

"My god, what happened to him?" Mason asked, showing concern.

"He got veneers. Is that what this is about?" Finstock asked. "Are you afraid of getting hurt, Greybeck?"

"No, I'm having some issues dealing with aggression."

"Well, here's the good news. That's why you play lacrosse; problem solved."

"Coach, I can't play the game tomorrow night." Mason pointed out.

"Listen, Greybeck, part of playing first line is taking on responsibility of being first line. Now, if you can't shoulder that responsibility, then you're back on the bench until you're ready."

Mason asks, "If I don't play the game, you're taking me off first line?"

"Greybeck, play the game."

_**[School Hallway]**_

Mason walks through the halls when his phone rings. He takes it out and sees a text from his mom.

_Mom (Work)_

_Got the night off! Coming to see you play! So excited!_

Mason looks up to see Alex coming down the stairs. "Hey." She greeted him as she walked over. "Busy?" She asked, glancing at his phone.

"No. No, it's just, uh...my mom. She's nothing." Alex's eyes widen until Mason catches himself. "I mean, it's nothing. Uh, I'm never busy for you."

"I like the sound of that." She smiles and they laugh. "Well, I have to run to French class, but I wanted you to know that I'm coming to see you play tomorrow?"

"You are?"

"Yeah, and we're all going out afterwards. It's going to be you, me, Gigi, and Jackson. It's gonna be great. Tell Max to come too." Alex starts to walk away and shouts over her shoulder, "Save me a seat at lunch. I gotta go."

"Oh, god..." He mutters, walking away.

_**[Alex's Locker]**_

Alex quickly heads to her locker and starts putting in her locker combination as the halls clear. She gets suspicious when she sees her jacket from the other night at the party, the one she never went back and got.

There's an eerie squeaking noise as she grabs it. Someone was watching her. She looks both sides of her to see nothing. Starling she, the bell suddenly rings. She chuckles just before grabbing her French book.

_**[Math Class]**_

Gigi and Mason stand at the chalk board, facing it with chalks in hand, solving a math equation. Gigi asks, whispering, "Why is there a rumor going around that you're not playing tomorrow?"

"It's because I'm sort of not."

"I think you sort of are, especially when you brutally injure my boyfriend while ramming into him." Gigi shot back.

"He brutally injured himself by ramming into me."

Gigi just smirked then looked at him with a glare. "Jackson's gonna play tomorrow, but he's not gonna be at his peak, and I prefer my boyfriend at crowning performance."

"Okay." Mason said, slightly annoyed.

"I date the captain of the winning lacrosse team, and if they start off the season losing, I date the captain of the losing lacrosse team." Gigi pointed out. "I don't date losers."

"Losing one game isn't gonna kill anyone." Mason points out before quietly muttering, "In fact, it might even save someone."

"Fine, don't play. We'll probably win anyway. Then we'll go out after, like we were planning, and I'll introduce Alex to all the hot players on the team and Mason Greybeck can stay home, surfing the net for porn." Gigi puts her chalk down, finished with the problem, and walks back to her desk while clapping the chalk of her hands.

The teacher speaks, "Mr. Greybeck, you're not even close to solving your problem."

"Tell me about it."

_**[Mason's Locker] **_

Mason is at his locker, locking it, when Max runs over. "Hey, come here."

"What?" He asks while Max drags him over to the end of the hallway where the principal's office is. Standing out of the office, the principal, Deputy Stilinski, and another cop are having a conversation.

Max points to them, "Tell me what they're saying."

"Can you hear them?" Max asks.

"Shush."

_Deputy Stilinski: I want everyone under the age of 18 to be in their home by 9:30p.m. We'd like to institute the curfew, effective immediately._

Mason turned to Max. "Everyone under the age of 18 has curfew because of the body."

"Unbelievable. My dad's out looking for a rabid animal, while the jerk-off who actually killed the girl is just hanging out, doing whatever he wants."

"Well, you can't exactly tell your dad the truth about Dean."

"I can do something." Max tells him as Mason leans against the wall.

"Like what?"

"Find the other half of the body." Max says then walks away.

"Are you kidding?"

When Mason turns away, he sees Alex, Gigi, and some guys on the lacrosse team.

"This is Alex." Gigi introduces Alex to one of the guys.

"Hi." Alex greets them. "It's nice to meet you." She continues as she shakes hands with him.

"She's the new girl. She just moved here." Mason walks towards them, listening in on the conversation. He walks with a glare directed toward the guy and Gigi.

"Do you like it?"

"I like it."

Gigi glares back at him and walks away, tagging the guy along.

She turns to face Mason with a smile. "So, Gigi's introducing you to everyone?"

"She's being so unbelievably nice to me." Alex points out.

"I wonder why." But Mason knows the reason why.

"Maybe she gets how much being the new girl can suck." Alex responds. Mason notices her jacket. He gets a flashback of seeing it hung by a tree branch.

"Where did you get that?"

"My jacket...? It was in my locker. I think Gigi brought it back from the party. She has my combination..."

"Did she say she brought it back, or did somebody give her the jacket?" Mason cut her off.

"Like who?"

"Like Dean."

"Dean, your friend...?"

"He's not my friend. How much did you talk to him when he drove you home?"

"Mmm, not much at all..."

"What did you say?"

"I gotta get to class." Alex says.

"Alex..." Mason called out.

"No, I really have to go."

**[****Dean's House****]**

Mason quickly rides his bike to Dean's house. When he reaches it, he gets off and starts yelling. "Dean! Dean!" He shouts as he takes his backpack off aggressively. Mason smells something and looked at the back of the house to see fresh dirt. He looked back at the front of the house to already see Mason standing there.

"Stay away from her!" He shouted. He couldn't deal with losing her. "She doesn't know anything!"

"Yeah...? What if she does? You think your little buddy Max can just Google werewolves, and now you got all the answers, is that it? You don't get it yet, Mason, but I'm looking out for you. Think about what could happen. You're out on the field, the aggression takes over, and you shift in front of everyone." Dean grabs Mason's lacrosse stick. "You're mom, all your friends. And when they see you," He pokes the top of the lacrosse stick on Mason's chest and he slaps it away. "Everything falls apart." Dean rips the net with his claws.

He suddenly disappears when he throws the lacrosse stick in mid-air and Mason catches it.

**[****Mason's House****]**

Max rushes through the Mason's house and up to his room. Opening the door, he starts to ask a bunch of questions, "What did you find? How did you find it? Where did you find it?" Max adds, "And, yes, I've had a lot of Adderall."

"I found something of Dean Moriarity's." Dean informs.

"Are you kidding, what?"

"There's something buried there." He replies. "I could smell blood."

"That's awesome! I mean, that's terrible. Who's blood?"

Mason gets up. "I don't know. But when we do, your dad nails Dean for the murder, and then you help me figure out how to play lacrosse without changing, because there's no way I'm not playing that game." He tosses the fixed stick to the bed and they walk out.

**[****Beacon Hills Hospital****]**

Max and Mason walk into the hospital. Max suddenly nudges him, pointing to the door that reads "Morgue". "Okay." Mason says, heading over.

"Good luck, I guess, yeah." Gigi says, walking away as Mason sneaks into the room beside them. Max goes into the waiting room to see Gigi sitting on a chair. Max gets nervous and leans onto the check-in-desk. He walks to Gigi with a cheerful attitude.

"Hey, Gigi, you probably don't remember me. Um...I sit behind you in biology." He waves at her and she looks at the ceiling. "Uh, anyway, I always thought that we just had this kind of connection. It was unspoken, of course. Maybe it'd be kind of cool to get to know each other a little better." Max realizes Gigi has been on the phone the whole time when she takes off her Bluetooth phone.

"Hold on, give me a second." She orders and takes the Bluetooth off before turning to Max. "Yeah, I didn't get any of what you just said. Is it worth repeating?"

Max chuckles nervously. "No. Sorry. I'm gonna sit. You don't care." He sits in a chair around the corner and grabs a comic book.

**[****Morgue****]**

Mason walks down the hall, looking at the label on each door. He gets to the Morgue and quietly goes in. He walks past a table then goes to a shelf where they have body sized containers to put the deceased in. He opens a door that was near and pulls the body out.

He lifts up the sheet where the feet are shown and there's a tag on the big toe. He glances at the tag and reads the information on there. He puts the body back in and shuts the cabinet.

**[****Hospital - Hallway****]**

Jackson walks down the hall and Gigi immediately gets up to walk to him. "Did he do it?" Gigi asks, concerned for her boyfriend's injury.

Jackson informs, "He said not to make a habit of it, but one cortisone shot won't kill me."

"You should get one right before game, too. The pros do it all the time. Do you want to be a little high school amateur?" She crosses her arms over her chest before grabbing Jackson and pulling him toward her. "Or do you want to go pro?" She gives him a soft kiss.

They walk away and Max, who was watching them, made a face. Mason comes up and snatches the book away from Max, startling him. "Oh my god...!"

"The scent was the same."

"Are you sure?" Max asks, getting up.

"Yeah..."

Max sighs, "So, he did bury the other half of the body on his property."

"Which means; we have proof he killed the girl and then buried half of her body." Mason responds.

"I say use it."

"How...?"

"Tell me something first." Max said. "Are you doing this because you want to stop Dean or because you want to play in the game and he said you couldn't."

"There are bite marks on the legs, Max; bite marks."

"Okay, then we're gonna need a shovel." Max says, patting Mason on the back as they walk out.

**[****Dean's House - Night****]**

Dean walks outside and heads to his car. Right when he drives away, Max and Mason drive up. They hop out of the car and walk to the spot where the body was buried. As he watches Max shine the flashlight, Mason states, "Wait. Something's different."

"Different how...?"

"I don't know. Let's just get this over with." They reach the spot and start digging. It takes almost an hour for them to dig six feet under. Wiping sweat and dirt off of his nose, Mason says, "This is taking way too long."

"Just keep going."

Mason asks, "What if he comes back?"

"Then we get the hell out of here."

"What if he catches us?"

"I have a plan for that."

"Which is...?"

"You run one way, I run the other and whoever he catches first, rest in peace."

Mason scoffs. "I hate that plan."

When Max puts his shovel back in the ground, he hits something. "Oh, stop, stop." They bend down and start wiping the dirt away. Max starts to untie something.

"Hurry up."

"I'm trying." Max says. "Did he have to tie the thing in 900 knots?"

"I'll do it." When they're done, they uncover everything and jump back with a scream when they see a black wolf with its tongue sticking out.

"What the hell is that?" Max asks in disgust.

"It's a wolf." Mason points out.

"Yeah, I can see that. I thought you said you smelled blood, as in human blood."

"I told you something was different.

"This doesn't make since."

"We gotta get out of here."

"Yeah, okay, help me cover this up."

Max looks up for a second and spots a purple flower poking out of the ground. "What's wrong?" Mason asked, following Max's eyes to see what he's looking at.

"You see that flower?" Max asks.

"What about it?"

"I think it is wolfsbane."

"What's that?" Mason asks, confused.

"Haven't you ever seen The Wolf Man?"

"No."

"Lon Chaney Jr.? Claude rains the original classic werewolf movie?"

"No!" Mason shouts. "What?"

"You are so unprepared for this." Max sighs and gets up, walking to the plant. He starts pulling it out of the ground. It's attached to a rope and he walks in a circle to get it out. The area starts to glow red. Mason looks back at the wolf and jumps up. "Max." He calls.

Max stops what he was doing and goes to Mason. He looks down and sees that the wolf was now human. "Holy!" He exclaims, falling down a little.

**[****Dean's House - Afternoon****]**

Mason and Max are at Dean's house, a cop car in front of them. A cop comes out with Dean, handcuffs latched onto his hands behind him. Mason watches as he leans against Max's jeep. He looks in the distance to see Max walking over. Max didn't see Mason shaking his head 'no', trying to stop him.

As Max gets in the car and starts talking to Dean; all Dean does is glare at him. "Okay, just so you know, I'm not afraid of you." Dean growls, making Max sink down a little. "Okay, maybe I am, but it doesn't matter. I just want to know something. The girl you killed, she was a werewolf. She was a different kind was she? I mean, she could turn herself into an actual wolf. I know Mason can't do that? Is that why you killed her?"

"Why are you so worried about me when it's your friend who's the problem?" Dean asks. "When he shifts on the field, what do you think they're gonna do, huh, just keep cheering him on? I can't stop him from playing, but you can." Dean leans forward. "And trust me, you want to." The door opens and Sheriff Shapiro suddenly pulls Max out.

"Hey! OW...!" Max exclaims.

"There, stand." Sheriff orders him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just trying to help."

"Uh-uh. Okay, well, how about you help me understand exactly how you came across this.

Max sighs. "We were looking for Mason's inhaler."

"When did he drop his inhaler?" Sheriff questioned.

"He dropped it the other night." Max confessed then groaned, realizing what he just did.

"The other night when you were out here looking for the first half of the body?"

"Yes."

"The night you told me you were alone and Mason was at home.

"Yes. No. Oh, crap."

"So, you lied to me."

"That depends on how you define lying." Max responded.

"Well, I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?"

"Well, I define it as reclining your body in a horizontal position." Max demonstrates with his arm.

Sheriff responds, "Get the hell out of here."

"Absolutely..." Max walks to his jeep.

**[****Max's Jeep****]**

"I can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial." Mason informs Max as he drives down the road.

"Just keep looking." Max orders as he sighs. "Maybe it's like a ritual or something, like maybe they bury you as a wolf or maybe it's like a special skill, you know? Like something you have to learn."

"I'll put it on my to-do list, right underneath figuring out how the hell I'm playing this game tonight."

"Maybe it's different for she-wolves."

"Okay!" Mason shouted. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"Stop saying werewolves! Stop enjoying this so much."

Max asks, "Are you okay?"

"No! No, I'm not. I'm so far from being okay."

"You know, you're gonna have to accept this, Mason; sooner or later." Max states.

"I can't..."

"Well, you're gonna have to."

"No, I can't breathe!" A starts grunting and hits the roof with his hand. Max soon realizes what's happening.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

"Pull over." Mason orders.

"Why, what's happening?" Max asked.

Mason opens up Max's backpack and sees the rope of wolfsbane. "You kept it?"

"What was I supposed to do with it?" Max asked.

"Stop the car." Mason's eyes then turned yellow and his canines grew.

Max suddenly pulls over and stops the car. He grabs his backpack and jumps out. Throwing it back into the woods, he turns to the car to see Mason's car door swinging open, but no Mason. "Mason?" He wonders, looking around cautiously.

Soon, he's driving down the road again, calling dispatch. The line picks up and a woman starts to speak, "Max, you know you can't call the dispatch when I'm on duty."

"I just need to know if you've gotten any odd calls."

"_Odd how...?"_

"Uh, like an odd person or a dog-like individual roaming the streets."

"_I'm hanging up on you now."_

"No, wait, wait!"

"_Goodbye."_ The line drops and Max slams his phone on the seat.

**[****Alex's House - Night****]**

Mason is on the roof, in werewolf form. He looks into her window to see Alex looking at pictures. She gets up and walks to the windows, not noticing him. She shuts her curtains and Mason suddenly sees his reflection. Startled, he tries to get off, falling of the roof and colliding on the hood of Mr. Russo's car. Before Mr. Russo can even see his werewolf form, he shifts back.

"Dad...?" Alex's voice could be heard from the doorway. Mr. Russo is kneeling beside Mason, making sure, he's okay. "Dad, what the hell are you doing?" Alex shouts as she runs to the two.

"He came out of nowhere, Alex." Mr. Russo says.

Alex asks, "Are you trying to kill him?"

"No, of course not, he just ran out of the driveway."

"I'm sorry." Mason apologizes, grunting in pain. "It's my fault. I'm sorry."

"Are you okay?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I swear." Alex starts to stroke his hair. "Sorry I hit your car. I was just coming to say hi." Mason says. Alex chuckles.

"You sure you're okay?" Mr. Russo asks as he and Alex help Mason up.

He grunts, "Yeah, yeah, I'm completely fine. I should go. I've got a lacrosse game to get to." He turns to Alex. "You're still coming, right?"

"Of course I'm coming." Alex smiles at him.

"We both are." Mr. Russo adds.

**[****Locker Room****]**

Mason has finished getting ready and puts his clothes in a bag. A male voice that can only be heard by him says his last name, "Greybeck..." Everyone's slamming lockers which make it difficult for Mason to hear just one thing. "Greybeck..." The voice says again. He closes his eyes tight then opens them. He sits back down and starts putting his knee pads on.

Max comes by and looks at him. He starts making his way towards Mason. "Are you gonna try to convince me not to play?" Mason asks.

"I just hope you know what you're doing."

"If I don't play, I lose first time and Alex."

"Alex's not going anywhere." Max shouts, getting annoyed. "And it's one game that you really don't need to play."

"I wanna play!" Mason yells and looks at him. "I want to be on the team and I want to go out with Alex. I want a semi-freaking normal life. Do you get that?" He asks.

"I get it." Max sits down and sighs. "Just try not to worry too much while you're out there, okay? Or get too angry."

"I got it."

"Or stressed..."

"I got it."

"Don't think about Alex or being in the stands, or that her father's trying to kill you, or that Derek's trying to kill you, or the girl he killed. Or that you might kill if a hunter doesn't kill you first." Mason was getting annoyed and turned around with a glare, warning him to stop. "I'm sorry. I'll stop. Good luck."

**[****The Game****]**

The crowd cheers and the game is about to start. Everyone takes their seats and the players get prepared to win. Mason and Max walk to the bleachers with the items for the game. Mason sees Alex, Mr. Russo, and his mom. "Mason!" Gigi yells, walking up to him and grabbing his shirt. Max gasps and walks away. "I just want you to remember one thing for tonight."

"Uh, winning isn't everything?"

Gigi chuckles and wipes invisible dust off his shoulder. "Nobody likes a loser." She says and walks away.

Coach sits next to Jackson and asks, "How's your shoulder?"

"It's fine." Jackson responds.

"Do you feel any pain?"

"No."

"What if I gave it a big old punch?" Coach rises up his fist. "Would you feel any pain then?"

Jackson knits his eyebrows, "Maybe."

"Listen, just go out there. Just give it your best. If you feel any pain, just..."

"Just keep playing...?"

"That's my boy."

The whistle blows and the players run to the field. Mason runs to the goal; Max is nervously biting his nails. Mason prayers silently, "Please let this be okay. Please."

**[****Bench****]**

Mr. Stilinski comes up to Max and pats his back. "Hey kid."

"Hey." He greets him back.

"So, you think you'll see any action tonight?"

"Oh, there might be action all right."

**[****Field****]**

The coach puts the ball between two players and the whistle blows, they fight for it. When a player on Mason's team gets it, they start running for the goal. Minutes later, Mason sees the ball on the ground. He runs over and Jackson sees this. Jackson runs after him and pushes Mason to the ground, grabbing the ball with the net.

Jackson scores, "That's it, Jackson! Get fired up, fired up!"

Mason looks back at the bleachers where Alex and Gigi are cheering. Alex and Gigi are holding up a sign that says, "We Love You Jackson!" Mason is heartbroken by this.

"Brutal." Max mutters, noticing the sign. "Oh, this is not gonna be good." He mumbles, seeing Mason running after Jackson.

"Don't pass to Greybeck," was the last thing Mason heard between Danny and Jackson. Mason's eyes turn yellow. Mason grows softly and the coach starts to wonder something.

**[****Bleachers****]**

Alex and Gigi are suspicious and worried. Mr. Russo leans over, asking, "Which one is Mason again?"

"He's number 11." Gigi says. She adds, "He's also known as the only one who hasn't caught a single ball the entire game."

"I hope he's okay."

"I hope we're okay." Gigi says. "We need to win this." Gigi stands up, picking up the sign and nudges Alex to help her. "Alex, a little help here...?"

**[****Field****]**

Mason grows even more jealous at the other sign. The ball is thrown in mid-air and Mason jumps up, catching it before starting to run. He dodges the players of the other team and runs to the goal. He shoots, he scores! Mason has won the round and everyone but Gigi and Jackson cheer. Coach Finstock yells, "Pass to Greybeck! Pass to Greybeck!"

Mason has shifted, now growling. His eyes are glowing yellow, canines out. Luckily, his helmet is on. He growls at a player on the opposing team and the player backs away in fear, passing it to Mason.

Coach walks over to Max, who is biting his glove in fear and anticipation. "Did the opposing team just deliberately pass us the ball?"

"Yes, I believe so, Coach." Max answers.

Mason dodges another player, then another player, until he reaches the goal. The goalie catches the ball, but it goes through the net and into the goal. Mason looks at everyone else and realizes that he's shifting.

Cheers to him roar through the field. The whistle blows again and they get ready for the final round. "What the hell's up with your teammate?" A player on the opposing team asked as they got ready to start again.

"I don't know...yet." Jackson responds. The coach blows the whistle and one of the opposing team players pass the ball to Mason. Mason once again does the same routine again, vision now red.

Max stands up slowly, knowing that Mason was shifting. He mutters, "No, Mason, no."

"You can do it, Mason." Mason hears Alex mutter and her voice makes him calm down a bit. In the last 5 seconds of the game, Mason throws the ball into the net. They have won. Mason takes off his glove and sees his claws. He dashes for the locker room, Alex following.

**[****Locker Room****]**

Mason pants as he walks to the sinks. Taking off his helmet, he throws it across the floor. Alex comes in and sees his helmet. She starts to worry and become suspicious. Taking off her beanie, she starts calling out for Mason.

"Mason?" There's no answer. She hears glass shatter when he punches the mirror. "Mason? Mason, are you here?"

Mason watches Alex from above on the ceiling bar. She's suspiciously staring at the broken glass. Alex leans against the wall in fear and calls out for Mason once again. She goes to the showers to see him. He is fine after making it through his transformation.

"Mason, are you okay?" She walks up to him and touches his shoulder, making him suddenly turn around. "You scared me. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sorry, I just got kind of lightheaded for a sec."

"Maybe it's the adrenaline." Alex suggested. "You were pretty amazing out there."

"I'm sorry for acting totally weird today."

"It's okay. I can handle weird."

"To be totally honest, you, uh, make me kind of nervous."

"I do?"

"Yeah, kind of like really nervous." He says, Alex laughs. "I just...I wanted to make sure I get my second chance."

"You already have it; I'm just waiting for you to take it." She starts to walk away, but turns back when Mason starts to respond.

"Well, maybe I need to learn to take more chances."

"Maybe you do." Mason leans in and their lips touch. They share a sweet, soft kiss. Max runs in and then takes some steps back to give them a little privacy. Peering in, he still watches.

Alex and Mason pull away and she giggles, "I got to get back to my dad." She walks away and sees Max.

"Max." She says, walking out the door. He waves a little, barely lifting a hand. He walks away from his hiding place and towards Mason, who has a goofy grin on his face.

"I kissed her." Mason says.

"I saw."

"She kissed me."

"I saw that too. That's pretty good, huh?"

Mason stammers, "I don't know how, but I controlled it. I pulled it back. Maybe I can do this. Maybe I can do this. Maybe it's not that bad."

"Yeah," Max chuckles. "We'll talk later then." Max is about to walk away, but Mason stops him.

Mason questions, "What?"

"The, uh, medical examiner looked at the other half of the body we found."

"And..."

"Well, I'll keep it simple; the medical examiner determines killer of girl to be animal, not human. Dean's human, not animal. Dean, not killer; he was let out of jail."

"Are you kidding?"

"No. And here's a bigger kick in the butt. My dad ID'd the dead girl, both halves. Her name was Laura Moriarity."

"Hale?"

"Dean's sister."

**[****Lacrosse Field****]**

Mason's glove is still on the field. Jackson sees it and goes to pick it up. The tips of it are torn and Jackson feels someone's presence behind him. He looks to see a figure staring at him; Dean Moriarity.


	3. Pack Mentality

Chapter 3 - Pack Mentality

_Mason and Alex come out of the school, holding hands and running to a bus. As he guides her, he says, "Come on." _

"_Where are you taking me?" Alex asks. _

"_I'm taking you somewhere where we can be alone." _

"_We are alone." She states. They stops and Mason leans against the bus doors. _

"_Somewhere we can be more alone..." Mason opens the door and they go in. Mason sits in a seat and Alex stands over him. Alex sits across from him. Mason grabs the ends of the top seat, standing up. He walks over to Alex and bends down. He leans in and kisses her with passion. This censors a trigger and his claws retract and scratch the seat. He pulls away and Alex knits her eyebrows._

"_What's wrong?" She asks. He starts growling and walks away to the other side of the bus. _

"_Get away." He warns her, but she doesn't move. _

"_Mason?" She stands up and Mason's eyes start glowing yellow, hair grows alongside of his jaws and his canines grow. "Mason?" _

"_Get away from me!" He stops crouching and looks at her. She starts staggering away in fear. She turns around and starts running to the door. But Mason, being faster than her, grabs her leg. She falls to the ground, hitting her face. He drags her across the floor and Alex keeps on turning and turning. She tries to grab the legs of the seats so Mason wouldn't be able to drag her anymore. _

_Alex is able to kick Mason in the chest and crawl back to the door. She falls and starts to lean on the door so someone could see her. But no one could see her. Mason starts walking to Alex. When she is almost able to get the door open, Mason covers her mouth and smashes her head against the window._

**[School - Morning]**

Mason is telling Max what happened. As they walk down the hall, Max asks, "So you killed her?"

"I don't know. I just woke up, and I was sweating like crazy and I couldn't breathe. I've never had a dream where I woke up like that." He said.

"Really...?" Max asks. "I have. It usually ends a little a little differently.

"A) I meant that I've never had a dream that felt that real, and B) never give me that much detail about you in bed again." Mason told him, knowing what he meant.

"Noted..." Max sighed. "Let me take a guess here."

"No, I know, you think it has something to do with me going out with Alex tomorrow. Like I'm gonna lose control and rip her throat out."

"No, of course I don't." Mason is not sure that Max is telling the truth. "Yeah, that's totally it." Max admitted. "Hey, come on, it's gonna be fine, alright? Personally, I think you're handling this pretty freaking amazingly. You know, it's not like there's a Lycanthropy for beginner's class you can take."

"Yeah, not a class; but maybe a teacher..." Mason says.

"Who...?" Max asked. "Dean?" Max slaps Mason on the back of his head. "Are you forgetting the part where we got him tossed in jail?"

"Yeah, I know, but chasing her and dragging her to the back of the bus, it felt so real."

"How real...?"

"It felt like it actually happened." As soon as they walk outside, their eyes drop. In front of them is a bus stained with blood and a door hanging out.

"I think it did." Max says, making Mason even more worried.

They have gone inside away from the scene and Max tries to reassure Mason that Alex is fine. "She's probably fine." He catches up to Mason.

"She's not answering my texts, Max." Mason says, looking around frantically.

"It could just be a coincidence, alright?"

"Yeah, a seriously amazing coincidence" Mason turns to Max. "Just help me find her, okay?" Seconds later, Mason asks, "Do you see her?"

"No." Mason turns a corner and slams himself against a locker. Out of frustration, he punches the locker, breaking it and it swings open. He walks backwards to the corner and bumps into someone. He turns to see Alex suddenly drop her books. She laughs and looks at him.

"You scared the hell out of me." She said, being down to pick them up. Mason is happy to see that she is alive and healthy.

"You're okay." He says.

"I will be once my heart starts beating again." Alex says as Mason bends down to help her. She notices him staring at her.

"What?"

"I'm just happy to see you."

The principal comes on the intercom, _"Attention, students, this is your principal. I know you're all wondering about the incident that occurred last night to one of our buses. While the police work to determine what happened, classes will proceed as scheduled." _Everyone groans.

Alex puts her head on Mason's and plays with his hair. "Save me a seat at lunch?" She asked, looking into his coffee-brown eyes.

"Yeah..." He responds. She walks away and Mason looks to see Jackson dumbfounded about his locker.

"What are you looking at, asswipe?" Mason just walks away, a laugh trying to escape.

_**[Chemistry Class]**_

Mason is talking to Max, who is sitting right behind him. Mason suggested, "Maybe it was my blood on the door."

"It could have been animal blood." Max responded quietly. "You know, maybe you caught a rabbit or something."

"And did what?"

"You ate it." Max said.

"Raw?"

Max answers sarcastically, "No, you stopped to bake it in a little werewolf oven; yes, raw. I don't know. You're the one who can't remember anything."

The teacher, Mr. Harris, stands at the board and starts to speak, "Mr. Stilinski, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while. I think you and Mr. Greybeck would benefit from a little distance, yes?"

Max scoffs, "No."

Mr. Harris points to a different seat and has them move further apart. "Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much." Max scoffs and sits down while Mason goes to the front.

"Hey, I think I found something." A girl shouted, pointing to the window. In interest, everyone ran to the window to see an old man being wheeled out of the bus by some doctors.

"That's not a rabbit." Mason whispers to Max. Suddenly the man jumps up and starts screaming, making the class jump a little as doctors hold him down. Mason starts to back away, Max following.

"Okay," He begins. "This is good, this is good. He got up; he's not dead. Dead guys can't do that." Max pointed out.

"Max," Mason whispers. "I did that."

_**[Lunch]**_

Mason and Max are still trying to wrap their heads around things. As they walk to the table, Max says, "But dreams aren't memories." He puts his tray down and sits down across from Mason.

"Then it wasn't a dream." Mason says. "Something happened last night and I can't remember what."

"What makes you so sure that Dean even has all the answers?" Max asked.

"Because during the full moon, he wasn't in werewolf form, he was in total control while I was running around in the middle of the night attacking some totally innocent guy."

"You don't know that." Max responded, grabbing his orange.

"I can't go out with Alex. I have to cancel."

"No, you're not cancelling, okay? You can't just cancel your entire life. We'll figure it out." Just as he finishes, Gigi puts her tray down and sits next to Mason once she pulls her chair out.

"Figure what out?" Gigi asked.

"Uh...figure out tonight's homework." Max lied. He leans over to Mason and whispers, "Why is she sitting with us?" Mason shrugs.

Suddenly, they are suddenly joined by Alex, Danny, and a guy named Brian. Jackson comes up with his tray and looks at Brian. He orders Brian, "Get up."

"Why don't you ask Danny to get up?" Brian asked.

"That's because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot." Danny answered. Brian gets up and leaves as Jackson sits down. The topic is soon on the incident and the man found.

"So, I hear they're saying it's some type of animal attack."

"It was probably a cougar."

"I heard mountain lion." Jackson responds, sitting back and bringing his leg up.

Gigi says, "A cougar is a mountain lion. Isn't it?"

"Who cares?" Jackson asked. "The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway."

"Actually, I just found out who it is." Max says, looking down at his phone. "Check it out." He puts his phone in the middle of the table so everyone could see the video.

"_The Sheriff's Department won't speculate on details of the incident, but confirmed the victim, Garrison Myers, did survive the attack. Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition." _

"I know this guy." Mason stammers and grabs Max's phone.

"You do...?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, when I used to take the bus back when I lived with my dad, he was the driver."

"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?" Gigi asked. "Like, oh, where are we going tomorrow night?"

Alex looked at her, knowing the question were directed toward her. "You said you and Mason were hanging out tomorrow night, right?"

"Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do." Alex responded, looking at Mason.

"Well, I am not sitting home again watching Lacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun."

"Hanging out? Like the four of us?" Mason looked at Alex. "Do you wanna hang out, like us and them?"

"Yeah, sure, sounds fun."

"You know what else sounds fun?" Jackson asks, grabbing a fork. "Stabbing myself in the face with this fork..." Gigi quickly grabs it and puts it in the middle of her and Mason. Max rolled his eyes, taking a swig of his water bottle.

"How about bowling?" Gigi asked, looking at Jackson. "You love to bowl."

"Yeah, I do, but with actual competition."

Alex looked at him with a laugh, "How do you know we're not actual competition?" Alex then looked at Mason and asked him a question. "You can bowl, right?"

"Well, sort of." Max's eyes widen, knowing his friend was truly terrible at bowling.

"Is it sort of or yes?" Jackson asked, leaning forward.

"Yes." Mason responded. "In fact, I'm a great bowler."

_**[Hallway after School]**_

"You're a terrible bowler!" Max exclaims, walking down the hall with Mason tagging along.

"I know! I'm such an idiot."

"God, it was like watching a car wreck. I mean, first it turned into the whole group date thing. Then out of nowhere comes that phrase."

"Hang out." Mason repeats.

"You don't hang out with hot girls, okay? It's like death. Once it's hanging out, you might as well be her gay best friend. You and Danny can start hanging out."

"How is this happening?" Mason asked. "I either killed a guy or I didn't."

"I don't think Danny likes me very much."

"I asked Alex on a date and now we're hanging out."

Max asked, "Am I not attractive to gay guys?"

"I make first line and the team captain wants to destroy me. Now..." Mason glances at his watch. "Now, I'm gonna be late for work." He starts to walk away faster, leaving Max behind.

"Wait, Mason, you didn't...Am I attractive to gay guy..." Max cuts himself, knowing Mason wasn't gonna answer. "You didn't answer my question." Max then starts walking the other way.

_**[Animal Clinic]**_

Mason rides his bike to the Animal Clinic and parks it besides the building. He runs in and apologizes to his boss, Dr. Deaton, "Sorry."

"You're all of two minutes late."

"I just don't want you to think I'm slacking."

"Mason, I guarantee you; you're one of the least slacking kids in this town." Dr. Deaton says, picking up a box. Mason looks at the door and sees the Sheriff standing outside, about to come in.

He believes that they have found some connection to him and the attack; however, he is just here to get the police dog's stitches removed. "Hey, I see somebody's ready to get their stitches out." Dr. Deaton bends down to pet the dog before picking up to put it on the operating table. Mason sees an evidence envelope in Sheriff's hand.

"Hey, there, Mason, are you staying out of trouble?" Sheriff Stilinski asks, taking off his sunglasses.

"Yeah," Mason nods.

Sheriff starts to talk to Deaton, "Hey, listen, while I'm here, do you mind taking a look at those pictures I was telling you about?" Sheriff asks, handing him the evidence envelope. "Sacramento still can't determine an animal."

"I'm not exactly an expert." Deaton says as he takes out the pictures. "This is the guy who was attacked on the bus?"

"Yeah, and we found wolf hairs on Laura Moriarity's body."

"A wolf...?" Mason asks, getting into the conversation. "I mean, I read somewhere that wolves haven't been in California for like 60 years."

"True enough, but wolves are highly migratory. They could've wandered in from another state driven by impulse or strong enough memory."

"Wolves have memories?" Mason asks, walking to the table.

"Longer term memories, yes. If associated with a primal drive. See this one here?" Deaton holds up a picture and points to a mark. "Those are claw marks. A wolf would've gone for the throat or the spinal cord with its teeth."

"So, what do you think, it's a mountain lion?" Sheriff asks.

"I don't know. A wolf could chase down its prey, hobbling it by tearing at the ankles." Mason suddenly gets a flashback of his "dream". "And then the throat."

_**[Later that Day - Hospital]**_

Mason arrives at the hospital to deliver a package for his mom. His mom notices him and asks, "Is my beautiful talented, and wonderful son _actually _bring me dinner?"

"I thought you wouldn't mind skipping the cafeteria tonight." He says, leaning on the check-in desk.

"You are the most thoughtful, loving, most conniving little con artist ever." Mason raised his eyebrow. "You are so not getting the car tonight."

"Mom...!" Mason started.

"What? There's a curfew, so no car." Linda looked up and smiled, grabbing the bag of food. "But I will take this." She starts to walk away, but turns back to him. "Love you."

Mason then started walking to the door, but stopped. He turned around, looking at a door where he smelled a familiar scent. He walks over to it and opens the door. He quietly walks in and shuts it, walking to Mr. Meyers' bedside.

"Mr. Meyers." Mason started and looked at him with a look of worry. Mr. Meyers' eyes open and he looks at him. "Are you okay?" But Mr. Meyers' doesn't answer, instead he freaks out. He starts groaning and screaming, grabbing Mason's shirt.

Linda's voice rings, "What the hell are you doing in here? Get out! Now, go!"

_**[Next Day - Dean's House]**_

The Sheriff's office had dispatched a car to check out Dean Moriarity's place, however using his werewolf abilities manages to scare off the deputy. As his car pulls away, Mason appears behind it, looking up at the house.

"I know you can hear me." Mason said, walking up to the porch. "I need your help."

Soon, the door opens and Dean walks out to the porch. Mason proceeds to speak, "Okay, I know I was a part of you getting arrested and that we basically announced you being here to the hunters. I also don't know what happened to your sister. But I did something list night, I had a dream about someone, but someone else got hurt and it turns out that part of the dream might've actually happened."

"You think you attacked the driver?" Dean asked.

"Did you see what I did last night?"

"No."

"Can you at least tell me the truth?" Mason asks. "Am I gonna hurt someone?"

"Yes."

"Could I kill someone?"

"Yes."

"Am I gonna kill someone?"

"You probably will." Mason's eyes widen and he walks to a wooden post that holds the roof up as Dean continues. "Look, I can show you how to remember. I can show you how to control the shift, even on a full moon. But it's not gonna come for free."

"What do you want?"

"You'll find out. But for now, I'm gonna give you what you want. Go back to the bus, go inside, see it, feel it. Let your senses, your sight, smell, touch...Let them remember for you." He instructed.

"That's it?" Mason asked. "Just go back?"

"Do you want to know what happened?"

"I just want to know if I hurt him."

"No, you don't." Dean responded. "You want to know if you'll hurt _her_."

_**[School]**_

Later that evening, Mason and Max drive up to the school. They get out and Max starts to follow Mason to the gate. "Hey, no, just me." Mason stopped him. "Someone needs to keep watch."

"How come I'm always the guy keeping watch?"

"Well, because there are only two of us."

"Okay, why's it starting to feel like you're Batman and I'm Robin?" Max asked loudly. "I don't want to be Robin all the time."

"No one is Batman and Robin any of the time." Mason responds.

"Not even some of the time?" He asks, scoffing.

"Just stay here." Mason orders.

"Oh my god...!" Max shouted, starting to walk back to his jeep. Mason starts climbing the gate and jumps when he gets to the top. He makes his way to the bus and went in.

He walked down the bus and touches every sign of blood on it. He gets a flashback of someone tearing one of the seats and throwing it to the front. Mason took his hand off of the seat and starts having other visions.

Max sees a light floating in the air and sits up straight. The light shines through the windows of the bus, but Mason isn't seen. He sneaks out and runs to Max's car.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" Mason shouts, jumping in.

"Did it work?" Max asked as he drives. "Did you remember?"

"Yeah, I was there last night and the blood...a lot of it is mine."

"So you did attack him?"

"No, I saw glowing eyes in the bus, but they weren't mine. It was Dean."

Max asks, "What about the driver?"

"I think I was actually trying to protect him."

"Wait, why would Dean help you remember that he attacked the driver?"

Mason stammers to answer his question. "That's what I don't get."

"That's gotta be a pack thing."

"What do you mean?" Mason asked.

"Like an initiation, you do the kill together."

"Yeah, because ripping someone's throat out is a real bonding experience?" Mason asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, but you didn't do it, which means you're not a killer. And it also means that..."

Mason gets excited and finishes for him, "I can go out with Alex."

"I was gonna say it means you won't kill me."

"Oh yeah," Mason paused. "That too..."

_**[Alex's House]**_

Alex opens her bedroom closet and picks out something to wear for the date. She smirks and grabs a black shirt with dark roses. She turns around and faces Gigi.

"Mm, pass." Gigi says, sitting on the bed. Alex turns back to her closet and picks out a different shirt. It's orange, white, and green with a little bit of forest green. "Pass." Alex groans in frustration as Gigi gets up and walks to Alex's closet. "Let me see."

"Pass...Pass...Ugh, pass on all of it." Gigi says. "Alex, respect for you taste is, uh, dwindling by the second." She strokes Alex's hair. She laughs and turns back to the closet.

"Hmm..." She finds a shirt and picks it up. She examines it for a second. "This." Gigi has a black and shiny shirt in her hand. Alex holds it up to her chest and her dad comes in, putting on his jacket.

"Dad, hello..." Alex greets her, emotionless. Mr. Russo looks up at her and smiles, then he remembers what he was gonna say.

"Right, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I completely forgot to knock."

"Hi, Mr. Russo..." Gigi greets, plopping down on Alex's bed, resting her head on her hand, putting her other hand on her hip.

Alex asks, "Dad, do you need something?"

"I wanted to tell you that you'll be staying in tonight."

"What?" Alex asks. "I'm going out with my friends tonight."

"Not when some animal out there is attacking people." He sneers.

"Dad, dad, I'm...uh..."

"It's out of my hand. There's a curfew. No one's allowed out past 9:30p.m." Mr. Russo interrupts her. "Hey, no more arguing." Mr. Russo says as Alex throws her shirt on the bed. Alex sighs and crosses her arms over her chest. Mr. Russo walks out of the room.

"Hmph..." Gigi says, getting up. "Someone's daddy's little girl."

"I am sometimes, but not tonight." Gigi was surprised that came out of Alex. Alex walks to the window and pulls the curtains back, opening the window. As Alex walks out onto the roof, Gigi ran to the window and poked her head out.

"What are you doing?" Gigi asked.

Alex jumped down and then looked up at her. "Eight years of gymnastics. Are you coming?" Alex whispered.

"I'll take the stairs."

_**[Bowling Alley]**_

Gigi and Jackson are tying their bowling shoes and Alex and Mason are picking out a ball. "You look like you know what you're doing." Mason says, watching as Alex puts a large blue ball down.

"I used to bowl with my dad." Alex said. "When was the last time you bowled?"

"Uh, at a birthday party..." Mason said. Alex picks up a ball and then walks to the table to see Jackson's arm around Gigi. Mason whispers, "...when I was eight."

Gigi stands in front of the bowling alley and Jackson comes up behind her. She enjoyed this moment for a second then got ready to bowl. Jackson helps her, but misses. They give it another try and knock down 3 pins. Gigi gets mad, "I'm so bad at this."

They walk back to the bench and sit down. Alex picks up a purple ball and bowls, striking. Mason smiles at how good she was as she comes back to the bench. "Somebody brought their A-game." Gigi says as Alex took a seat.

Soon, Jackson is up and strikes, "Whoo, yes!" Gigi cheers.

"You're up, Greybeck." Jackson says, sitting back down and putting his arm around Gigi.

"You can do it, Mason." Alex encouraged him, nudging him to get up. He grabs the ball and walks to the row for Alex, Jackson, Gigi, and he.

He sighs and prepares for failure. The ball goes into the gutter and Jackson suddenly laughs. "Jackson? Do you mind shutting up?" Alex asked as Gigi tried to hold in a laugh.

"I'm sorry. I'm just flashing back to the words 'I'm a great bowler'."

"Maybe he just needs a little warm up." Alex suggests.

"Yeah, maybe he just needs the kiddy bumpers." Jackson says and they both start laughing, earning a glare from Alex.

"Just...just aim for the middle." Alex instructs Mason as he grabs another ball.

Jackson suggests, "How about you aim for anything except for the gutter?"

Alex scowls at them, "Let him concentrate."

"Come on, just one pin, please." Mason prays with a deep sigh and looks up at the heavens. He rolls the ball onto the ground and when it's about to hit a pin, the ball decides to go for the gutter.

Jackson starts laughing again, but Gigi tries to get him to stop. "Great job, Greybeck," Jackson teased, watching as Mason sat on the bench. "Man, you're a pro."

"Don't worry. We only just started." Alex said, putting her hair behind her ear.

Soon, it's Mason's turn again and he dreads it. Alex hesitates to get up and walk to him. She finally decides to and heads toward him. "Mason, you're thinking too much." She says.

"I know, I'm sorry," Mason apologized. "I'm ruining this."

"No, no, not at all, but I wouldn't mind shutting them up so just clear your head and think about something else." Alex whispers a few pioneers in her ear. "Think about me..." She starts to walk away, but comes back and whispers, "Naked." She then walks to the bench and sits down.

Mason's werewolf senses kick in and his vision turns red. He must've been thinking hard, because he got a strike. Alex laughs and Gigi turns to her with a serious look and asks, "What did you tell him?"

"Uh, I just gave him something to think about." Alex says as Mason comes back to the bench and sits down.

_**[Gas Station]**_

Dean pulls up in his car and gets out. He puts the gas tank in the gas holder beside his car. Two cars pull up in front and behind them. Mr. Russo gets out and straightens his jacket. The gas pump beeps and two hunters come out of the car. Dean looks at them and takes the gas pump out.

"Nice ride." Mr. Dean starts, walking over to the car. "Although, black cars are very hard to keep clean that I would definitely suggest a little more maintenance. If you have something this nice, you want to take care of it right?" He grabs a screen sweeper and cleans the back of the car's window. "Personally, I'm very protective of the things I love. But that's something I learned from my family. And you don't have much of that these days. Do you?"

Dean clenches his fist. "There we go." Mr. Russo said, seeing Derek make his hand into a fist. He put the sweeper down into the bin. "You can actually see through your windshield now. See how that makes everything so much clearer?" He starts walking to his car when Dean speaks up.

"You forgot to check the oil."

Mr. Russo turns around. "Check the man's oil." One of the hunters walks to the side of the car and smashes the window.

"It looks good to me."

"Drive safely." Mr. Russo leaves and so do the other hunters.

_**[Bowling Alley]**_

Mason is getting better at bowling and Alex, Gigi, and Jackson can't believe it. Alex laughs in amazement as Mason scores another strike.

"That is seriously amazing." Alex says. She turns to Jackson. "Jackson, uh, how many strikes is that?"

"It's six in a row." Gigi laughs and turns to Alex and Mason.

"Something just clicked, I guess." Mason speaks as Gigi stands up and places her hand on her arm.

"Maybe it's natural talent." Alex suggested.

Gigi is the next one to speak, "I could use some natural talent. You mind helping me out this time, Mason?" Gigi asks.

"No, you're good. Go for it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Gigi says, walking to the row of balls.

"Hey, I'll help." Jackson says, getting up.

"How about I just try this on my own?" Gigi asked and Jackson took that as a signal to sit down. Gigi shoots the ball onto the ground and it rolls to the pins, earning her a strike. She punches the air and turns around.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it." Gigi says once she sits down.

"That was sort of perfect form." Alex commented in disbelief.

Gigi asks, "Was it?"

Alex leans toward her, signaling a whisper so Gigi leans in forward to. Alex whispers, "Maybe you should stop pretending to suck just for his benefit."

"Trust me; I do plenty of sucking just for his benefit." Gigi says. She motions her eyebrows as the two girls pull away. "Jackson." She says, looking back at him and sees that he's glaring angrily.

"What?"

"I don't like your look."

"I don't care." He responds arms crossed over his chest.

She sits up straight, leaning over him and whispers, "Can you at least attempt to have a good time, please?"

Gigi looks at her, "Can you not invite me out with your lame friends?"

"Okay, then." They don't notice Alex and Mason look at each other awkwardly. "And try not to hurt your wrist out there. You are definitely gonna need it tonight."

"At least I have a tight grip."

Gigi rolls her eyes and slaps him on the leg, "Let's start a new game, okay? I'll go first." She jumps up and walks away to grab another ball. She strikes once again.

When their date comes to a close, Alex and Gigi are taking their bowling shoes off and putting on their normal shoes while Jackson is playing at a game machine. Mason comes over and watches.

"Nice shot, man." He compliments Jackson; Jackson just glares at him. "Listen, I know we both didn't want to be here. But the thing is we don't have to hate each other.

Jackson looks up at him. "I don't hate you. I just don't believe you. You know, you got everyone thinking everything's fine and normal about you, but I know something's off. You cheated tonight."

"How do you cheat at bowling?"

"I don't know, but you did. And I don't know if it's steroids or something weirder. I'm guessing weirder since it's pretty obvious you're a freak. So don't think for a second I've given up on finding out what your little secret is."

"I don't have any secrets." Mason lied.

"Yeah, you do, and here's the other thing. I don't know why, but I think whatever you're hiding, you don't want her to find out about it either." Jackson looks at Alex. The bell from the machine starts ringing and Jackson flings the handle.

_**[Hospital]**_

Dean walks into Mr. Meyers' hospital room. "Open your eyes." Dean orders. Mr. Meyers' eyes open and he look at the ceiling. "Look at me"

"What do you remember?" Dean asked.

"Moriarity." Mr. Meyers' suddenly says, making Dean confused.

"How do you know my name?"

"I'm sorry."

"How do you know me?"

"I'm sorry."

_**[Hospital Hallway]**_

"Girl, I'm outta here." Linda says, walking out of a room. "There's a full DVR of unwatched television waiting to remind me how ridiculously single I really am." She grabs her jacket, purse, and keys.

When she walks to her desk, she sees an alert flashing on her screen. "Rose, call a code, Room 13." She runs to Mr. Meyer's room and walks in to see no Dean and Mr. Meyers is dead.

_**[Alex's Porch]**_

Mason and Alex walk to her porch and start to chat. "So, uh, do you think we could hang out again soon?" Mason asked.

"Absolutely," Alex responded. "But I have to admit something. Um, I'm not big on group dates. So, next time, just the two of us."

Mason sighs with relief, "I could totally handle more of that."

"Great." Alex says, giving him a kiss.

"Alex?" He stops her by grabbing her hand when she walks to the door. Mason brings her back to him and pulls her into a soft, sweet kiss.

Alex pulls away and bites her lip. "And I could handle more of that." Mason smiles and walks off. Mr. Russo appears to have been watching the whole time.

_**[Mason's Room]**_

Linda walks down the hall upstairs to Mason's room and his lights are off. When she turns away, she hears someone come in from his window and sees a figure jumping on his bed. She walks in and grabs a bat. She turns on the light to see Max and they scream.

Shouting, Linda asks, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What am I doing?" Max asked. "God, do either of you even play baseball?"

"What?" Mason comes in.

"Can you please tell you friend to use the front door?" Linda asks.

"But we lock the front door; he wouldn't be able to get in."

"Yeah, exactly, and by the way, do any of you care that there's a police enforced curfew?

"No." Max and Mason say at the same time.

"No. Alright then, well, you know what?" Linda tosses the bat on the bed. "That's enough parenting for me for one night, so good night." Linda walks out. Max sighs and looks at Mason.

"What?" Mason asked, sensing something was wrong.

"My dad left for the hospital fifteen minutes ago. It's the bus driver; they said he succumbed to his wounds."

"Succumbed...?"

"Mason, he's dead." Max says abruptly.

_**[Dean's House]**_

Mason arrives at Dean's house and walks in. "Dean, I know you're here!" Mason shouted, walking slowly up the stairs. "I know what you did!"

"I didn't do anything." Dean's voice boomed, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Mason exclaims, "You killed him!"

"He died."

"Like your sister died?"

"My sister was missing; I came here looking for her."

"You found her." Mason said.

"I found her in pieces being used as bait to catch me."

"I think you killed them both. I'm gonna tell everyone, starting with the Sheriff." When he reaches the top of the stairs, Mason comes out of nowhere and throws Mason down the stairs. Mason gets up, in werewolf form, and roars. Dean jumps from the top to the bottom and lands on his feet. Before Dean could reach, Mason throws him in some scaffolding, causing him to fall into another rom.

"Huh. That was cute." Dean says sarcastically then pops his neck, causing him to shift. Mason runs into the room where Dean is. Dean throws him against the ground, chocking him. When the fight end, Mason sits in a chair, panting.

"I didn't kill him." Dean starts. "Neither of us did. It's not your fault and it's not mine."

"This? This is your entire fault!" Mason shouted, getting up. "You ruined my life!"

"No, I didn't."

"You're the one who bit me."

"No, I'm not."

Mason asks, "What?"

"I'm not the one that bit you." Mason feels the scars on his chest and gets more flashbacks. He sits down on the chair and looks Dean.

"There's another."

"It's called an alpha. It's the most dangerous of our kind. You and I; we're betas. This thing is more powerful, more animal than either of us. My sister came here looking for him. Now, I'm trying to find him, but I don't think I can do it with you."

"Why can't you do it without me, exactly?"

"Because he's the one who bit you and you're part of his pack. It's you, Mason. You're the one he wants."

Right outside, the alpha is peering in the woods, standing outside of the house.


	4. Magic Bullet

Chapter 4 - Magic Bullet

Kate Russo drives down the road in the middle of the night, listening to the radio as she makes her way to Mr. Russo's house. _"In news, local authorities remain perplexed by the animal attacks plaguing Los Angeles." _Kate scoffs and turns the channel. Pop music begins to play on the radio. Something passes her car and growls. When she is looking away from the window, a large animal appears beside her and its eyes glow bright red.

It disappears when she looks straight. The figure knows that once she sees him in the corner of her eye, bad things will happen.

First, she senses some weirdness and looks in the review mirror. She looks in the back and sees nothing. She looks everywhere and looks in the review mirror several times to check. When she looks back to her front, she sees car coming toward her. Luckily, he passes her car and speeds away and she screams. "Nice driving Kate, nice." Kate whispers to herself sarcastically.

Suddenly, there is a loud clank on the top of her car. She looks up in suspicion and slowly reaches for her gun in the back of the car but before she grabs it, a big hand breaks the window and attacks her. She fights it and it leaves. She grabs her gun, jumps out and points it at the buildings. She stands up and shouts, "Come on! Come on!"

Dean is running on the rooftop, tracking down the Alpha when he sees a little bit of blood on the ground. He bends down and then looks up when he hears a roar. He sees the Alpha leaving. As he starts running toward the direction the alpha went, searing pain rushes through him. Kate has shot him. As he leans against a building, he rolls his sleeve up to see a glowing blue hole in his arm. Kate walks to the back of her car and opens the trunk to reveal a bag of werewolf hunting supplies.

**[****Russo Home****]**

Mr. Russo walks toward the door and Alex's voice stops him. "What's going on?" She asked in a tired voice.

"Your Aunt Kate just texted; I'm heading out to pick her up."

"It's 2:00 in the morning. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, she's just having car trouble."

"Not serious, is it?"

"No, it's just a flat tire. Go back to bed sweetheart." He says and Alex walks back to her room. Mr. Russo leaves and drives to Kate's location.

**[Kate's Location]**

The gun's bang wakes up Mason. He lifts up his head and then hears the gun again. He jumps up and gets some clothes on. He quietly walks down the halls and heads toward the bang.

He slowly looks, still hiding, and sees Mr. Russo and Kate talking.

"_Get in." Mr. Russo orders her. _

"_Not even, "Hello, nice to see you." _

"_All I've got at the moment is, 'Please put the assault rifle away before someone notices.'"_

_Kate scoffs. "That's the brother I love. Jerry, there were two of them." _

"_The Alpha...?" _

"_I don't know but one of them tried to kill me." _Mason cocks his ear to hear more.

"_One of them is gonna lead us to the other. He can't do that if he's dead." _

"_Well, I can't help kill either of them if one of them kills me first." _

"_How long will it take?" _

"_I give him 48 hours; if that." Kate mocks before walking to his car._

_**[**__**Alex's House**__**]**_

The next morning, Kate is unpacking. "Whoo...!" Alex shouts, coming down the hall to the guest room where Kate was staying in. Both of them laugh as they embrace each other in a hug. "I don't see you for a year, and you turn into a freaking runway model?" Kate complimented Alex as she walked to one of her bags.

"Oh..." Alex denied and sat on the bed.

"Look at you." Kate said. "Oh! Hate you." Kate teased.

"I haven't even showered yet." Alex lays her head on her arm, being supported by her knee.

"Sweetie, you're a knockout. In fact, I hope you have the boys knocking each other's teeth out for your attention."

"I kind of have one."

"You kind of have one? Well, you should kind of have a million." Kate tells her and they both start laughing. Alex decides to help but Kate stops her from opening a bag. "No! Not that one! Oh. See? You turn out beautiful, and I end up with this kung Fu death grip. Sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to be rough." Kate says picking up some clothes and walks to the closet.

"No worries." Alex responds. "Hey, is everything okay with your car?" Alex wonders.

"Uh, yeah, I just needed a jump start, that's all."

"It needed a jumpstart?"

_**[Class] **_

Mason sits in class, looking at the teacher as he passes out the test grades. Max taps Mason on the shoulder to ask him a question. "If Dean isn't the alpha, if he's not the one who bit you, and then who did?"

"I don't know." Mason shrugs.

"Did the alpha kill the bus driver?"

"I don't know."

Max sits back and sighs. "Does Alex's dad know about the alpha?"

"I don't know!" Mason shouted and everyone looked at him.

"Jeez." Max says as the teachers put his test grade on his desk.

Mason gets his paper. The paper says "Not like you! See me after class." And it has a giant D on it.

Max looks over Mason's shoulder and sees the grade. "Dude, you need to study more." Mason throws his paper down as a sign of aggravation. "That was a joke." Max defends. "Mason, it is one test. You're gonna make it up. Do you want help studying?"

Mason sighs. "No. I'm studying with Alex after school today."

"That's my boy." Max smirks.

"We're just studying."

"Uh, no, you're not."

"No, I'm not?"

"Not if I'm forced to live vicariously through you. If you go to her house today and squander that colossal opportunity, I swear I'll have you de-balled."

"Okay, just...stop with the questions, man."

"Done; no more questions. No more talk about the Alpha or Dean...who still scares me."

**[School Hallway]**

Dean walks down the hall, looking for Mason as he tries to look casual and not like he's dying. He sees Jackson at his locker and heads towards him. "Where's Mason Greybeck?"

Jackson looks at him and closes his locker. "Why should I tell you?"

"You should tell me because I asked you politely and I only do that once."

"Hmm. Okay, tough guy. You know, how about I help you find him if you tell me what you're selling him? What is it?" Jackson asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Is it, uh, Dianabol? Hm...Is it HGH?"

"It's steroids." Dean lies and he starts walking away.

"No, Girl Scout cookies...What the hell do you think I'm talking about? Oh, and, uh, by the way, whatever it is you're out selling, I'd probably stop sampling the merchandise. You look wrecked." Dean looks down and notices droplets of his blood falling on the floor.

He made his hand into a fist and looked up at Jackson. "I'll find him myself." Jackson grabs his shoulder to stop him and Dean slams him against the lockers and sticks his claws into the back of Jackson's neck. Dean walks away and leans against a wall and is right under the school bell.

When the bell rings, he winces at the loudness and hears Alex and Gigi talking.

_**[**__**Alex and Gigi**__**]**_

"Is Mason coming over? Is he tonight?"

"We're just studying together."

"Just studying" never ends with just studying. It's like getting into a hot tub...somebody eventually cops a feel."

"Well, so what are you saying?"

"I'm just saying, you know, make sure he covers up." Alex is confused and Gigi chuckles. "Hello, Sleeping Beauty! I'm talking about a condom." Gigi chuckles and follows her up the steps.

"Are you kidding, even after one date?"

"Don't be a total prude. Give him a little taste."

"Well, I mean, how much is "a little taste"?"

"Oh, god, you really like him, don't you?"

"Well..." Alex sighs. "He's just different. When I first moved here, I had a plan: no boyfriends till college. I just move too much. But...then I met him, and he was different. I don't know." Alex laughs. "I can't explain it."

"I can. It's your brain flooding with phenylethylamine."

Alex laughs again. "What?"

Gigi just puts her head back, slightly annoyed. "I'll tell you what to do. When's he coming over?"

"He's coming right after school."

"Hmm..."

_**[Outside School]**_

Dean walks outside and onto the street where Max is about to drive off. Dean stops his car and Max's tires screech to a stop. "Oh, my god...!" Dean collapses and Max starts honking his horn. Mason looks up from his bike and sees the scene.

"You've got to be kidding me. This guy's everywhere." Max tells himself.

"Oh, no, not here..." Mason runs to Max's car. "What the hell?" Max gets out and runs with Mason to Dean's side.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was shot."

"He's not looking so good, dude." Dean glares at Max.

"Why aren't you healing?"

"I can't. It was...it was a different kind of bullet."

"Was it a silver bullet?" Max asks.

"No it wasn't, you idiot."

"Wait, wait. That's what she meant when you had 48 hours."

"What?" Dean asks, breathing heavily. "Who...who said 48 hours?"

"The one who shot you said that." Dean's eyes glow on and on as he groans and the pain gets worse. "What are you doing? Stop that!"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you, I can't!"

"Dean, get up!"

Full of wonder, Alex gets out of her car and walks toward the scene. But Mason and Max get him in Max's car before Alex makes it over there.

Mason closes the door. "I need you find out what kind of bullet they used."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"Cause she's a Russo. She's with them."

"Why should I help you?"

"You should help me because you need me."

"Fine, I'll try." Mason sighs and looks in the distance. He then looks at Max who is starting to get in. "Get him out of here."

"I hate you for this so much." Max says as he starts the car. He drives off and Alex starts talking to Mason.

"Hey. What was he doing here?"

"Max was just, um, giving him a ride. Uh, long story."

"But I thought you said you weren't friends with him."

"No, we're not, really. Um, we're still studying together, right? So, I'll meet you back at your place?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, bye." Mason kissed her on the cheek and went to his bike after Alex said, "See you later."

Mason gets on his bike and looks behind him to see Jackson staring at him. He just gets back in his car next to Gigi.

**[Alex's House]**

Mason speeds on his bike to Alex's house. He almost crashes into Alex's blue car but stops just in time. He waves to her and she gets out. "How did you...you got here the same time I did." Alex walks to the door and Mason gets off to follow her.

"Oh. Yeah, I...I just took a shortcut...a really short shortcut."

"What is going on with you today? You're acting all kinds of bizarre."

"I'm just..." Mason tries to find an excuse. "I'm just stressing about classes. I'm not doing as good this year."

"Not doing as well." Alex corrected him.

"See? Exactly..." Mason says as they walk up the steps and Alex opens the door.

"Maybe we should start with English." Alex says as she walks inside and looks at Mason. He hesitates to go in. "Don't worry! Nobody's gonna be home for hours. Come on."

"Okay." Mason walks in and they head upstairs to Alex's room to see a few painted colors on her wall that hasn't fully been painted yet.

"I'm still unpacking." Alex informs him as she sets her books down.

"Uh, haven't you been here, for like, over a month?"

"I'm taking my time." Mason sets his jacket on her bed and she takes her leather jacket off which uncovers the top part of her blue flower dress.

"So, uh, I figure that we...start with um history..." Alex walks over to him and turns him around. She starts kissing him and they fall onto the bed. Mason kisses her back but with more passion. In the midst of their make-out, Mason's hand goes up and down her back and goes to her butt.

She laughs and keeps kissing him. When he looks, his claws are out. He quickly hides his hands under the quilt of her bed. "What's wrong?" Alex asks as she looks at his shocked face.

"Um...it's nothing. I just...I...don't want to make you feel like you have to do something you don't wanna do."

"I'm not doing anything I don't wanna do. Are you?"

"Seriously asking me that question?"

They both chuckle and Alex is about to kiss Mason when his phone rings. "Are you gonna answer that?"

"Um, uh, it's probably just Max. It'll go to voicemail eventually." Alex laughs and they go back to kissing. Since Mason was so nervous, Alex reached for his phone but Mason's hand came out as he tried to stop her and Alex immediately put her hand back on Mason's chest. Mason holds hand up to see his claws are gone.

Alex sits up and looks at him. "Uh, yeah, I should answer now."

Mason sits up and gets his phone to see a text from Max.

_Max (Mobile)_

_Did you find it yet?_

**[Max's Jeep]**

Max drives down the road as a pale Dean sits beside him, wincing at the pain. He takes out his phone when his phone buzzes.

_Mason: Need more time. _

Max bangs his phone on the seat. "Come on." Max looks to see blood dripping onto the seats. "Hey, try not to bleed out on my seats, okay? We're almost there."

"Almost where...?"

"Your house..." Max sighs.

"What? No, you can't take me there."

"I can't take you to your _own house_?" Max scoffs.

"Not when I can't protect myself." Max pulls to the side of the road.

"What happens if Mason doesn't find your little magic bullet?" Max asks. "Hm...? Are you dying?"

"Not yet." Dean says as he breathes heavily. "I have a last resort."

"What do you mean? What last resort?" Max shouts as Dean pulls up his sleeve and a steep arm mountain with a puddle of blood shows up. "Oh, my god...! What is that?" Max groans in disgust. "Oh, is that contagious? You know what; you should probably just get out."

"Start the car...now."

"I don't think you should be barking orders with the way you look, okay. In fact, I think if I wanted to, I could probably drag your little werewolf butt into the road and leave you for dead."

"Start the car, or I'm gonna rip your throat out...with my teeth." Dean threatens. With no choice, the engine starts up and Max drives off.

**[Alex's Room]**

Mason turns his ringer off and Alex sits beside him. "It's off. Sorry about that." Mason looks at a box where he sees a picture of Mr. Russo and Kate. "Who's this?" Mason asks as he picks it up and points at Kate.

"That's my dad's sister Kate, except she's more like my sister. She got here last night."

"Uh, last night...?"

"Yes. She had some car trouble, I guess."

"She looks familiar."

"Mmm, she actually used to live in Beacon Hills. Maybe you saw her once." said Alex as she looked at the picture.

He looks at her and then puts the picture down. He sees more pictures and takes them out. "Did you take these?" He chuckles.

"Back when I thought I was a photographer."

"They're good." He compliments them as he flips through the pages, looking at each and every one of them.

"No, they're not." Alex denies. "I stopped when I realized I was terrible at it." Alex takes them and points out its flaws. "Framing's off, bad lighting...believe me, not good."

He then takes out papers with designs on them. He looks at one that has a pair, apple, banana, and orange painted on it. "That was when I thought I was into painting." She explains. "Uh, that's terrible, too."

He sees a folder titled _Poetry _and grabs it. "That's when I tried poetry. "Terrible" doesn't even come close to describing that." Alex laughs as she looks at the previous painting they had looked at.

"What are you good at?"

"I'm gonna show you if you promise not to laugh." Alex informed him.

They get up and she guides him to the garage. She opens the door and they walk into a huge garage. "So I was naturally ranked as a kid, and my dad really wanted me to go on, but I don't know." Alex walks to a box as Mason closes the door. "I just didn't really like it. Promise you won't laugh?" Alex asks as Mason looks all around.

"I promise." Mason turns around to see Alex holding up a blue compound bow with a green string at the end. He jumps back. "What the hell is that?"

"It's a compound bow, and I'm pretty sure it requires an arrow to be harmful."

"So that's what your good at." Mason pointed out. "Archery..."

She gets up after putting the compound bow up. "You said you wouldn't laugh." Alex chuckles.

"Trust me, I'm..." Mason trails off after seeing a bunch of guns and bullets. "Not laughing." He finishes. Mason slowly walks to them, analyzing every one of them.

"So I guess I should explain." Alex says and walks toward him. "We're not some sort of separatist gun-nut family. My dad sells firearms to the law enforcement."

"Oh, that's good." Mason lied since she knew that she was lying and her family was lying to her. "So, um...are you planning on enjoying the family business?"

"I don't know. You tell me." Alex pulls Mason closer to her. "Would I look hot with a gun?" Mason leans against a shelf and wraps Mason's arms around her.

"You'd look hotter without." Mason says then kisses her. The door creaks open and she gasps. She drags him over to the side of her dad's car and duck.

"Hey, Jerry, get your ass out of the '50s and come help with groceries." They hear Kate shout in the distance.

"Be right there!" Jerry shouts as he puts a box down. He walks to the edge of his car and looks at the supplies. He looks down at them, signaling he saw them before they hid.

"You two mind helping?" Alex and Mason nod and get up to walk outside of the house and help with groceries.

Mason takes the last bag out of Kate's car and walks towards the door but Jerry stops him before he's able to walk up the steps and go in. He takes the bag and holds it. "Thank you." Jerry says. Mason's phone chimes.

_Max (Mobile)_

_Dean isn't looking so good_

Alex comes out and walks toward him. He looks up and sees her. "So, do you still want to study?"

"I think she'll concentrate on her own." Jerry tells him as Kate walks up after closing the car's trunk.

"Um...guess I'll see you later then." Mason tells her.

"You'll see her at school." Mr. Russo doesn't let Alex talk. Mason and Alex are about to hug when Mr. Russo stops them. "Hey, hey, you, on your bike," He points to Mason and his bike then points to Alex. "You, inside..."

"Oh, come on, Jerry." Kate starts. "Really...? They were making out in the garage, not shooting amateur porn." She points out. She puts her hand on Mason's shoulder and looks at him. "You, with the adorable brown eyes, drop your bike. You're staying for dinner."

She walks away into the house and Alex looks at him and smiles forcefully. She then follows Kate. Jerry looks at Mason. "You eat meat?" Mason nods eagerly but quickly stops.

"You don't mind?" Mason asks as he reaches Jerry on the top of the steps.

"Actually, no...Give us a chance to get to know each other."

They walk in and head to the kitchen.

Soon, Mason and Alex are getting the table ready together. As she puts a cup down, Alex says, "He doesn't hate you. He's just protective."

"He hates me." Mason says, walking around her to put another plate down.

"I wouldn't call it hate."

Mason asks, "Intense dislike...?"

"That's more like it." Alex nods.

"Should I just not say anything?"

"No," Alex whines. "I want you to say stuff, just don't say anything stupid." She sees him looking at her and chuckles a little bit. "Not that you're going to. Just...okay, just be the amazingly charming, sweet guy that you always are. And be confident because he will like you if you're confident."

"Don't I look confident?"

"You will when you stop sweating." She chuckles when Mason exhales and wipes his forehead. "You're gonna be great. I'm not worried." Alex hesitantly walks away like she's gonna say something, but she just nods and goes to the kitchen pantry.

Soon, everyone is at the dinner table. Mason's heart beats loudly as dishes clank. "Would you like something else to drink besides water, Mason?" Mrs. Russo asked.

"Oh...no, I'm good. Thanks."

"Get you some beer?" Mr. Russo started challenging Mason to see if he was a bad boy.

Alex and Mason looked at him. "No thanks."

"Shot of tequila?"

"Dad, really...?" Alex looked at him with a look of embarrassment.

"You don't drink, Mason?"

"I'm not old enough to."

"That doesn't seem to stop many teenagers." Mrs. Russo joins the conversation.

"No, but it should."

"Good answer." said Kate. "Total lie but well played, Mason." She adds then continues. "You may yet survive the night." She looks at Mason as she puts a bite of meat in her mouth.

"Ever smoke pot?" Alex slams her cup down in anger and sits back and Mason almost chokes on his water.

"Okay, changing the channel to something a little less conservative." Kate said as she laughed.

**Alex's POV**

Thank god for Kate. Thank you for making things less awkward than they were the previous minute.

"So, Mason, uh, Alex tells us you're on the lacrosse team." Kate strikes up a different subject. "I'm sorry. I don't know anything about that. How do you play?"

"Um, well, you know hockey?"

"Mm-hmm."

"It's a lot like that, but we only, um, play on grass instead of ice."

"Hockey on grass is called field hockey." What's the difference, Dad?

"Oh." AWKWARD is the description of this dinner.

"So, it's _like_ field hockey." I say. "Except the sticks have nets."

"Exactly," Mason's phone chimes right after he says that.

"And can you slap check in field hockey?" Mason looks at his phone as Kate asks.

"Um...yeah," He says looking up at her. "But it's only the, uh, the gloves and the sticks."

"It sounds violent. I like it." Kate looks at dad, possibly trying to annoy him.

"Mason's amazing, too. Dad came with me to the first game." I inform Kate.

"Wasn't he good?"

"He was fine."

"He scored the last shot, the winning shot."

"True, but he didn't score at all until the last few minutes."

I ignore him. "His last shot ripped a hole through the goalie's net. It was incredible." I say as I pick up my drink and take a sip of my water.

"Well, I think the goalie was probably playing with a defective stick, so..." I get annoyed and put my drink down with a bang and a clank.

Mason takes my hand and holds it. "You know, on second thought, um...I think I'll take that shot of tequila." I smile and mom and Kate laugh.

"You were kidding, right?" Dad asks as he holds his drink up.

"Yeah."

**Nobody's POV**

**[Max's Jeep]**

"What am I supposed to do with him?" Max asks Mason who's on the other line.

"_Take him somewhere, anywhere._"

Max sighs and complains about Dean's smell. "And, by the way, he's starting to smell."

"_Like...like what?" _

"Like death."

"_Okay, take him to the animal clinic." _

"What about your boss?"

"_He's gone by now. There's a spare key in the box behind the dumpster." _Max sighs and hands the phone to Dean.

"You'll never believe where he's telling me to take you." He informs Dean.

"Did you find it?" Dean asks.

"_How am I supposed to find one bullet? They have a million. This house is like the freaking Wal-Mart of guns." _

"Look, if you don't find it, then I'm dead, all right?"

"_I'm starting to think that wouldn't be such a bad thing." _

"Then think about this. The alpha called you out against your will. He's gonna do it again. Next time, you either kill with him or you get killed. So if you want to stay alive, then you need me. Find the bullet." Dean takes the phone away from his ear and ends the call.

**[Alex's House - Hallway]**

Mason puts his phone down and hesitantly walks to the garage door. When he puts his hand on the handle and turns it, the alarm blares. Kate clears her throat and Mason turns around to see a suspicious look on her face. "You look like a little lost puppy."

"Um..." Mason tries to find an excuse. "I'm just trying to find the bathroom."

"You're looking for the bathroom?" Kate asked. "Does that look like a bathroom?"

"No." Mason says, nodding his head.

"Use the guest bedroom." Kate points down the hall.

"Okay." Mason starts walking to the door and turns around to see Kate standing there with a suspicious look on her face. He goes in and quietly closes the door. He is about to walk to the bathroom but catches something in the corner of his eye. He sees the bag under Kate's bed. He walks to it and kneels down next to it. He quietly unzips the bag and opens it to see tons of bullets.

He grabs a little brown box. He opens it and sees 9 out of 10 bullets there. He takes one and holds it up. His eyes turn yellow. He puts it in his pocket and closes the box. He looks back at the door and it's still closed. He looks at the top of the box and it reads,

_ACONIT NAPEL BLEU NORDIQUE _

He pulls out his phone and translates it.

_ACONIT NAPEL BLEU NORIQUE - Nordic Blue Monkshood. _

He quickly puts his phone in his pocket, put the box back in the bag, and zip it.

**[Animal Clinic]**

Max opens the door to be greeted by dogs barking. His phone beeps as Dean walks in and sits on some bags of food. "Does Nordic blue monkshood mean anything to you?" Max asks as he reads the texts from Mason.

"It's a rare form of wolf's bait. He has to bring me the bullet."

"Why?"

"Because I'm gonna die without it."

**[Alex's House - Dining Room]**

Mason walks into the dining room to see them eating. "Hey, um, I should get going. Um, thanks for the dinner."

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, you have to stay for dessert. I wanna know about you." Kate stops him from leaving. "Sit down." She orders, pointing to the chair beside Alex.

"Alex was just telling us that you work for a veterinarian."

"I told them how you put the cast on the dog I hit." His phone chimes for the 18th time that night.

_Max (Mobile) _

_You need to get here NOW_

"What does your boss think of the animal attacks?" Mr. Russo asks. "You have any theories?"

"Everyone was just saying it's a mountain lion." Kate laughs.

"It'd have to be a pretty large mountain lion."

"What do you think, Mason?"

"I don't know. We usually get cats and dogs at the vet, but nothing that vicious."

"Never had to deal with a rabid dog?"

Mason nods his head. "Oh. I grew up with a lot of dogs. I saw one dog get rabies from a bat. It was transferred into a bat. You know, people think that a rabid dog just suddenly goes mad. It's a lot more gradual. First stage is subtle changes in behavior. They're restless, morose. It's the second stage that people know, the furious stage. That's when they attack. And we're talking about any moving object. Did you know that a caged rabid dog will break its own teeth, trying to chew through the bars? It'll even rear back and snap its own spine. Can you imagine the amount of force it would take to do that? It's completely character reversal. This harmless animal...turned into a perfectly vicious killer. And it all started with that one bite."

"But it died, didn't it?" Alex asked, slightly annoyed.

"Yes, because your grandfather shot it." Mrs. Russo answers.

"He shot it because he wanted to put it out of its misery."

"He shot it because it was too dangerous." Mr. Russo corrects. "Something that out of control is better off dead."

**[Animal Clinic]**

Max opens the doors to the emergency room and Dean holds onto him, half-passed out and looking even paler. "Well, okay. Okay." He slaps Dean's hand off and Dean goes to the table as Max turns on the light. "You know, that really doesn't look like anything some Echinacea and a good night sleep couldn't take care of." Max points out.

"When the infection reaches my heart, it could kill me." Dean explains. He walks to a cabinet and opens it then closes it, not finding anything.

"Positivity" just isn't in your vocabulary, isn't it?"

"If he doesn't get here with the bullet in time..." Dean opens a drawer. "There's a last resort."

"Which is?" Dean takes out a saw.

"You're gonna cut off my arm." Max gags a little.

**[Alex's House]**

Mason is ready to leave and Alex comes back downstairs, carrying his backpack. "I'm so incredibly sorry." She apologizes for her family's behavior.

"For what...?" Mason asks as they walk to the door.

"For that being the worst, most horribly awkward dinner ever in the history of horribly awkward dinners."

"No. Uh, it wasn't the worst. There was this one dinner where my parents told me they were getting a divorce." Mason informs her. "This comes close in at close in a second." Alex just smiles and pulls Mason in for a kiss.

"Your dad's watching." Mason whispers.

"Good." They kiss and then pull away. Mason is about to walk out when Kate stops them.

"Wait a second, guys."

"What is it?" Alex asks.

"Uh, I have to ask Mason something."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you." Kate closes the door.

"Uh..." Kate chuckles. "What'd you take from my bag?"

"What?"

"My bag; what'd you take from it?"

"What's going on?" Jerry asks, walking in.

There is a long pause. "Do you need me to repeat the question, maybe enunciate more clearly?"

Mr. Russo asks, "What are you talking about?"

"My bag was open in the guest room, and when I left it was shut. And Mason comes in to use the bathroom, he leaves, my bag's open."

"He didn't take anything..." Alex protested, trading glances between her dad, Mason and Kate.

"Something was taken from my bag. Now, look...I hate to be the accuser here, Mason, because I really do love those adorable brown eyes, but I don't know if you're a klepto, if you're curious," Kate laughs. "Or if you're just stupid. But answer the question. What did you take?"

"I didn't take anything. I swear."

"You don't mind proving it, do you?"

"Are you serious?" Alex asks.

"How about you show us what's in your pockets?"

"Dad...?"

"Come on, Mason. Prove me wrong."

"Uh, I'll prove you wrong. Uh, it wasn't Mason going through your bags. It was me." Alex takes the blame.

"You...?"

"Yep, it was me." Alex then pulls out a condom from her pocket. Mason looks at what's in her hand. His eyes widen. He leaves the house and jumps on his bike. He laughs a little bit as he heads to the vet.

_**[Animal Clinic]**_

Dean hands the saw to Max. The saw buzzes.

"Oh my god...!" Max groans, looking away. "What if you bleed to death?"

"It'll heal if it works." Dean says as he ties a blue rubber band around his arm over the bullet wound.

"Ugh. Look...I don't know if I can do this."

"Why not...?"

"Well, because of the cutting through the flesh, the sawing of the bone, and especially the blood!" Max shouts out the reasons.

"You faint at the sight of blood?"

"No but I might at the sight of a chopped off arm!" Max shouts. Dean sighs.

"Alright, fine. How about this? Either you cut off my arm, or I'm gonna cut off your head." Dean threatens.

"Okay, you know what; I'm so not buying your threats any..." Dean cuts him off by taking him by the shirt and buzzing the saw.

"Oh my god, okay, alright, bought, sold. Fine, I'll do it." Dean doesn't respond. He turns his head away from He lets go of Max and turns only to vomit a black liquid. "Holy God, what the hell is that?"

"It's my body trying to heal itself."

"Well it's not doing a very good job of it."

"Now, you gotta do it now."

"Look, honestly, I don't think I can."

"Just do it!" Dean yells, startling Max.

"Oh, my god...! Okay, okay." Max picks up the saw and puts the edge above Dean's bullet wound. Before he has to cut his arm off, he hears Mason call Max's name.

"Mason?" Mason runs in, panting. He sees what Max is about to do.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Max chuckles in relief. "Oh, you just prevented a lifetime of nightmares."

"Did you get it?" Dean asks. Mason takes it out of his pocket and hands it to him. Dean stands up but loses conscious and faints which causes him to drop the bullet. Mason tries to catch the bullet but it rolls into the cracks in the floor. Max rushes to Dean's aid.

Mason puts his hands through the cracks and tries to get it. "Dean." Max says as he tries to wake him up. "Dean, come on, wake up. Mason, what the hell are we gonna do?"

"I don't know!" Mason shouts as he tries to get the bullet. "I can't reach it."

"He's not waking up!"

Mason sighs. "Come on."

"I think he's dying! I think he's dead!"

"Just hold on!"

Mason makes his werewolf claws grow out.

"Please don't kill me for this!" Max says then punches Dean in the face. Mason is able to get the bullet fully out

"Ugh! Ow! God...!" Max winces at the pain.

"Give me..." Dean says and gets up. He pours the powder onto the table a gathers it all in the palm of his hand. He sticks all of it in the wound and falls, screaming and wincing at the pain of it healing. The wound disappears and Dean gets his color back.

"That...was...awesome!" Max shouted. "Yes!"

"Are you okay?" Mason asks as Dean sits up.

"Well, except for the agonizing pain."

"I'm guessing the ability to use sarcasm is a good sign of health." Max comments. Dean gets up and glares at Max.

"Okay, we saved your life." Mason continues. "Which means you're gonna leave us alone, you got that? And if you don't, I'll go back to Alex's dad, and I'm gonna tell him everything..."

"You're gonna trust them?" Dean cuts Mason off. "You think they can help you?"

"Well, why not? They're a lot freaking nicer than you are."

"I can show you exactly how nice they are."

"What do you mean?"

**[Beacon Hills Crossing Home]**

Mason and Dean arrive at Beacon Hills Crossing Home. "What are we doing here?" Mason asked as they got out of the car and started heading toward the building.

He leads Mason to a dark room and Mason sees a man with a full head of hair sitting in a chair, not moving or talking.

"Who is he?" Mason asks as Dean stares at the man.

"My Uncle Peter Moriarity..."

"Is he...like you, a werewolf?"

"He was. Now he's barely even human. Six years ago, my sister and I were at school, and our house caught on fire. Eleven people were trapped inside. He was the only survivor."

"So, what makes you sure that they set the fire?"

"Cause they're the only ones that knew about us."

"Well, then...they had a reason."

"Like what? You tell me what justifies this." Dean turns Peter's chair around and scares on half his face appear. Mason's eyes widen. "They say they'll only kill an adult, and only with absolute proof, but there were people in my family that were perfectly ordinary in that fire. This is what they do. And it's what Alex will do."

"What are you doing?" A female voice booms. "How did you get in here?"

"We were just leaving." Dean walks off and drags Mason, knowing that he'll keep staring.

**[Alex's House]**

Alex quietly walks out of the house, phone on her ear. "Hey. Um...I just thought maybe I'd catch you before you went to sleep, but, uh...I wanted to say sorry again for tonight. So...call me." Alex ends the voicemail and starts walking back when she steps on some glass. She looks up and sees Kate's window. She walks toward it and sees a shard of glass. She picks it up and analyzes it. She then holds it in her hand, bouncing it up and down as she walks back inside.

In the living room, Kate and Jerry are talking. "The one that attacked me was big. It had width and power, but the one I shot was lean and fast."

"Well, that would be Dean Moriarity."

"Are you sure?"

"Mostly..."

"Well, how do we know it's just two of them?"

"We don't yet. But if Dean's still alive, he will lead us to the Alpha." Kate starts making a fire in the fire place.

"Take the pack leader, and take the pack."

"We do it according to the code."

Kate scoffs. "You and the code."

"It's there for a reason, Kate."

"Of course." Kate lights a match and throws it into the fire place. "I always play by the rules."


End file.
